Twin Hearts of Destiny
by baka-neko-fan
Summary: When Hiccup, his twin sister, and Toothless stumble upon a pair of dragons by chance, new friendships are born, and a prophecy is fulfilled. Based in Berk but slightly AU for both stories. Further explanation inside. Rated for language. Gift fic and possibly a prequel?
1. Chapter 1

This fic is a gift to White-Hunter as a thank-you for introducing me to the series Dragonheart and giving me ideas and brainfodder. For the sake of this fic, please assume the following:

1: Hiccup has a twin sister, Audney. (So many twins in this village xD) Because they are twins, both of them wound up being weaker (why Hiccup is Hiccup) because neither got the nutrients they needed in utero. Because of this, they're both kind of outcasts, though Audney doesn't try as hard to earn acceptance as Hiccup.

2: The events of Dragonheart NEVER HAPPENED. That's right. King Einon and Bowen never came to Draco seeking help, so Draco was free to live his life and rase (presumably) his son, Drake. (Drake is still young and still, well, Drake. You'll see that later xD)

3: Same time periods, less dead dragons, though Draco and Drake are of a dying breed, previously unknown to the vikings of Berk, who can communicate both with dragons and humans. Because they're awesome like that. Distant relatives of the Timberjack.

Furthermore, I don't own anything that has to do with HTTYD or Dragonheart. So... there.

This first chapter is meant mostly to introduce Audney and her relationships with Hiccup, Stoick, and Gobber. We'll get to everyone else later.

* * *

"Audney!" A young boy called to his twin sister, who peered up at him suspiciously from her book, "Audney, there's another raid," He leaned across the table excitedly, "I'm going to do it, for real this time. I'm going to take down a Night Fury!"

Audney glanced past him, out the window. "I see flying dragons, flying Vikings trying to kill dragons... Nope, no flying pigs." With this, she returned to her book. She was quite a refreshing sight, in contrast with the mayhem outside. She wore a shirt passed down to her from their mother that was entirely too big on her and made her look even younger than she was. It was a rather simple green burlap shirt, just a few shades darker than Hiccup's, and an over sized fur cape that resembled her father's, but with a bit of a feminine touch, as it had a flower pendant with a ruby in the center where the furs met over her chest. The sleeves were rolled up to where the her elbows should have been, though the bunched up fabric sat in heaps on her wrists instead, though she left the length as it was, using it as somewhat of a dress that fell just above her knees, held in place by a belt with the Berk Crest on the buckle. Her feet, which were currently propped up on the table, were clad in fur-lined leather boots that came halfway to her knees, and leggings were the finishing touch, protecting her from the cold and from over-exposure from peeping toms. All in all, she wasn't what one would call beautiful, not really. She wasn't attractive like Astrid, but more cute, like a younger sister figure, but looks can be deceiving.

Hiccup narrowed his eyes, "Ha ha, so funny I forgot to laugh. Are you coming with me or not?"

The girl heaved a sigh, brushing wavy red locks out of her bored green eyes, "Hiccup, father told us to stay inside during dragon raids."

"Dad says a lot of things," Hiccup countered, "But he just doesn't understand! He doesn't see what we're capable of!"

Suddenly, Audney's book fell to the table with a loud 'thunk,' and without warning, she pinned Hiccup against the door, "There is no 'we' this time, brother. I've had enough of your shenanigans, you almost got us killed last time, and what would dad do if that happened? He'd have no one! He's already lost mom, we don't need to add our names to the list of sacrifices!"

Their eyes met for a moment before Hiccup dropped his gaze, "I know... I know, but Audney, he already-"

"I don't want to hear it!" Audney released him so suddenly that he fell forward, just barely able to catch himself before hitting the ground. She turned to look over her shoulder at her twin, eyes glistening with a combination of rage and fear, "If you get yourself killed, Hiccup, I'll _never_ forgive you. Do you hear me?"

Hiccup's face softened, "I'm not going to die. Come on, let's at least help Gobber at the forge, hm? You know he gets swamped with work during raids." The girl hung her head in thought, allowing her loose hair to conceal her face as she nodded. "Alright, let's go." Hiccup took the girl's hand and dragged her into the chaos that was Berk. The two found that, during raids, holding hands was a must. If they didn't, they'd lose one another, which was far worse than the embarrassment of holding hands. Though nearly everyone they passed told them to get inside, they fought their way through the crowds to the smithy, but of course, before they managed to reach their destination, their father, Stoick the Vast, spotted them.

"Hiccup?! Audney?!" He shot a glare into the crowd, "WHAT ARE THEY DOING OUT?!" He boomed accusingly before redirecting his attention to the twins, "What are you two doing out?! Get inside!" He turned away, clearly miffed, and Hiccup gave Audney an apologetic look.

The girl rolled her eyes and tugged on his hand, "Save it, Gobber needs us." With this, the pair finally began moving again and somehow managed to make it to the smithy, where Gobber was reshaping a sword.

"Ah! Nice of you to join the party. I thought you'd been carried off." Gobber greeted as Hiccup and Audney donned matching leather tunics and began to clean up around the shop.

"Who, me? Nah, come on! I'm way too muscular for their taste.. They wouldn't know what to do with all this." He struck a pose, showing off his lack of musculature.

Audney rolled her eyes as she joined Gobber in reshaping damaged weaponry, not bothering to comment on her brother's size. Gobber, however, couldn't help himself, "They need toothpicks, don't they?"

"Hey, tooth_pick._ I didn't want to come out here in the first place." Audney spat as she watched her brother gathering damaged weapons from villagers. In no time at all, Hiccup noticed Astrid and the other teens and leaned out the window, gazing at her dreamily. Audney, who noticed this first, grabbed a bucket of water and doused the boy with it. "That cold enough for you, or should I go get some fresh out of the ocean?"

Hiccup was about to turn around to scold his sister when he was hoisted up by Gobber's hook arm. "Ah, come on. Let me out, please, I need to make my mark!" He complained, looking to the elder viking.

"Oh, you've made plenty of marks. All in the wrong places." Gobber snorted, letting the boy go once more.

"Please, two minutes. I'll kill a dragon, my life will get infinitely better, I might even get a date." Hiccup pleaded, doing his best to convince Gobber. Unfortunately, his sister was less convinced.

Audney approached her twin and rested a hand on his shoulder with a faux-sympathetic impression, "Aww, Hiccup, but you already have a date!" He twitched at the implied incest until she continued, "A date with that fire, this hammer, and this sword." She gestured to the fire and plopped a dull sword and a hammer in his arms before stalking off to get something more productive done.

"She's got a point, you know. You can't lift a hammer, you can't swing an axe," He grabbed a bola for demonstration, "You can't even throw one of these." Another viking snatched the bola out of Gobber's hands and hurled it at a Gronckle, knocking the beast out of the air.

"Okay, fine, but," Hiccup dropped the tools his sister had given him, letting them fall to the ground with a clatter. He rushed into a back corner of the stall and pulled out his infamous bola launcher, "this will do it for me." He fidgeted with something on the contraption, and, unexpectedly, a bola went flying out, narrowly missing Gobber and instead whacking a viking at the counter behind him. Audney, who had been watching the entire thing unfold, burst into laughter as the Viking wailed in pain.

"Hiccup the Useless strikes again!" She cheered, but was effectively ignored by Hiccup himself.

"See, now this right here is what I'm talking about." Gobber said, exasperated.

Hiccup winced, "Mild calibration issue."

Rolling his eyes, Gobber elaborated, "Hiccup, if you ever want to get out there and fight dragons, you need to stop all... this." He gestured non-specifically at Hiccup.

"But... You just pointed to all of me."

"Yes! That's it! Stop being all of you. Or take a lesson from your sister and accept your fate," He gestured to Audney, who was doing her best to straighten out an ax.

Hiccup, trying to sound threatening, began, "Ohhh..."

Mocking him, Gobber said, "Ohhhh, yes."

"You sir, are plating a dangerous game," Hiccup proclaimed, puffing himself up to look as masculine as he possibly could, "Keeping this much raw... Vikingness contained. There will be consequences!"

Gobber stooped down to pick up the sword Hiccup's sister had provided him with earlier and tossed it at him, "I'll take my chances. Sword. Sharpen. Now."

Hiccup glowered at him for a moment before thrusting the sword into the grinding wheel and allowing himself to drift off into fantasy land while Audney looked over at Gobber. "He really is hopeless, isn't he?"

"That's why he needs a sister like you looking out for him," Gobber replied, trying to sound encouraging as he smacked her on the back harder than intended.

She stopped what she was doing to look over at Hiccup sadly, "I know his heart is in the right place. He wants to make father proud, he wants to do good for the tribe, but..." She sighed and shook her head, mumbling, "It's my fault. He'd be strong like Snotlout if he hadn't had to share everything with me."

"Now don't go blaming yourself for this," Gobber chided, though he couldn't help but silently agree with her. After all, Hiccup was Stoick's only son, he was to be chief one day, but this... He was never going to get anywhere like this.

"Honestly, Gobber, sometimes I wish I'd never been born. Things would be better for everyone." Audney murmured, gazing down at the fire as she fought back tears.

Gobber clapped her on the shoulder, "Aw, come on now, Audney, you don't know that. What do you think Hiccup would do without you? He'd get the whole village massacred in a matter of minutes!"

She sighed and softly agreed. "Probably..." She glanced over at the boy, "But, sometimes, I can't help thinking he's capable of going so far, just the way he is. Of course he doesn't see it that way. No, he has to be manlier, more viking-like, he has to kill a dragon... He's going to get himself killed in the process."

The man looked her over a moment, "You know, something's been bothering me. All this time, you've had no problem handling heavy things around the smithy without complaint, whereas Hiccup struggles with anything more than five pounds. Audney, why aren't you out there with the other teens?"

The girl averted her gaze, "I have to keep my eyes on Hiccup, no matter what. He needs me... And, maybe someday, he'll learn to follow my example, to love himself just the way he is... Please don't tell my father, Gobber."

Gobber smiled sadly, "You really are a great sister," He said gently.

Suddenly, they were interrupted by a voice shouting, "Night Fury! Get down!" Along with an all too familiar sonic whine.

Trading his hammer for an axe, Gobber turned to Audney and Hiccup, who seemed to be paying attention now. "Man the fort, Hiccup, Audney, they need me out there!" He turned to leave, then paused, looking back at Hiccup, "Stay. Put. There." He commanded, as if speaking to a dog, "You know what I mean. Audney, keep an eye on him."

"Always do." Audney flashed him a promising smile, but the moment Gobber was out of sight, Hiccup was grabbing his bola launcher and making his way to the door. "Hiccup!" Audney got between the boy and the door, "Seriously?"

Hiccup, who had been grinning devilishly moments earlier, frowned a bit, "Aw, come on, not you, too, Audney! Don't you want to make a name for yourself?"

Audney rolled her eyes and held out her hand, "Apparently we haven't met. My name's Audney. Yours is Hiccup."

The boy's eyes narrowed, "You know what I mean! We're never going to get anywhere if we don't do something big! Please, let's just go and-"

"Not we. Not this time, brother. One of us has to be around for father." Audney stepped aside, glaring daggers at her twin, "You're on your own this time. Just remember that if you get yourself killed, I'll never, _ever_ forgive you."

Hiccup lowered his head, considering this for a moment before meeting Audney's gaze, "You'll see, Audney. I'll make you proud." With this, he burst through the door, well aware of the fact that he was breaking his sister's heart. He HAD to do this, as much as it hurt him to cause her pain. He'd come back, she'd see, he'd come back with his head held high.

In spte of the people shouting for him to get inside, Hiccup pushed his way through the crowd and out onto a cliff, where he began mumbling to himself, eyes scanning the sky for the Night Fury. "Come on. Give me something to shoot." He muttered, and, as if in answer to his plea, an explosion illuminated the dragon for a fraction of a second, just long enough for Hiccup to launch his bola. He watched as the spinning weapon disappeared into the night, then heard a loud whack, followed by an almost deafening screech. He blinked for a moment, stunned, before a smile slowly crept across his face, "Oh I hit it! Yes, I hit it! Did anybody see that?" He turned to see if anyone had been watching and found that someone had. A monstrous Nightmare that didn't look very pleased. "Except for you," He whimpered before rushing off into the night, screaming for help as he fled.

He managed to duck behind the last brazier standing just in time to dodge the flames that spewed around the post. Cautiously peering around the pole, he found that the Nightmare was gone, but before he could relax, he turned back to find it standing before him, glowering. There was no escape this time. Facing his certain doom, Hiccup closed his eyes, waiting for the blow that never came because, just in time, Stoick appeared and jumped between them, beating the Nightmare until it took off, defeated. When his father turned to glare at him as the brazier toppled over, destroying everything in its path, Hiccup could only wince and utter a soft, "Sorry, dad."

Audney, who had been running since she heard her brother's screams from the stall, finally spotted Hiccup and breathed a sigh of relief. Just as she was about to run to and either beat the living daylights out of or hug him, he began talking again, to their father. She paused to listen in.

"Okay, but I hit a Night Fury." Stoick, furious and deeply embarrassed grabbed Hiccup by the collar and hauled him away from the crowd. Audney heaved a sigh and followed her father and Hiccup. Upon noticing his sister, Hiccup brightened, "It's not like the last few times, dad, Audney, I mean I really actually hit it. You guys were busy and I had a very clear shot. It went down, just off Raven Point. Let's get a search party out there before it-"

"STOP! Just... stop." Stoick boomed, plopping Hiccup down in front of him. "Every time you step outside, disaster follows. Can you not see that I have bigger problems? Winter's almost here and I have an entire village to feed!"

Audney felt a pang of pity for her brother, but it was soon washed away when Hiccup said, "Between you and me, the village could do with a little less feeding, don't ya think?" She smakced a hand to her forehead as the villagers, who all seemed to have their eyes on Hiccup and Stoick, looked over themselves self-consciously.

"This isn't a joke, Hiccup! Why can't you be more like your sister? Why can't you follow the simplest orders?" The man scolded loudly.

"I can't stop myself. I see a dragon and I have to just... kill it, you know? It's who I am dad." Hiccup fumbled to find the right words, and Audney heaved a sigh.

"Yeah, right," She muttered to herself, "Hiccup the brutal dragon slayer. Sounds about right."

Apparently, she had not been heard, as Stoick said, "You are many things, Hiccup, but a dragon killer is not one of them." Most of the other villagers nodded in agreement, and Hiccup winced. Stoick turned and gestured for Audney to join them, which she did, obediently. "Get back to the house, both of you." With this, he turned to Gobber and added, "Make sure they get there. I have Hiccup's mess to clean up."

Gobber led Hiccup and Audney through the crowd, though Audney didn't look nearly as ashamed as she should have. Contrary to popular belief, she actually hadn't done anything wrong this time. Tuffnut, the male in another set of twins, commented, "Quite the performance."

Snotlout, their cousin, seemed to agree, "I've never seen anyone mess up that badly. That helped!"

Embarrassed, Hiccup mumbled, "Thank you, thank you, I was trying, so..." He averted his gaze as they passed Astrid, though Audney met her glare. She knew her brother's heart was in the right place, even if everyone else couldn't understand that, and she would defend him.

When they were finally past the other villagers, Hiccup repeated, "I really did hit one."

"Sure, Hiccup," Gobber muttered sarcastically.

"He never listens." Hiccup continued, rather annoyed with his father.

Gobber snickered, "Well, it runs in the family. Makes me wonder if Audney's related to you at all."

"And when he does, it's always with this... disappointed scowl. Like someone skimped on the meat in his sandwich." He mumbled, then, mimicking Stoick, continued, "Excuse me, barmaid, I'm afraid you brought me the wrong offspring. I ordered an extra large boy with beefy arms, extra guts and glory on the side. These... These here are talking fish bones." Audney certainly couldn't argue with that. She felt the same way, more often than not.

With a sigh, Gobber corrected, "You're thinking about this all wrong. It's not so much what you look like. It's what's inside that he can't stand." That stung a bit.

"Thank you, for summing that up." Hiccup muttered dryly as they reached the door.

"Look, the point is, stop trying so hard to be something you're not. Like Audney here." Gobber gestured to the girl, though she probably wasn't the best example, hiding her strength for her brother's sake.

"I just want to be one of you guys," Hiccup said with a heavy sigh. Gobber eyed him sympathetically and patted Audney's shoulder as the two went inside. No sooner were they inside than Hiccup was darting to the back door. Audney grabbed his shoulder, stopping him.

"And where do you think you're going?" She asked accusingly.

He wheeled around to face his sister, "Please Audney, I really did it this time, I know I did."

Audney's face softened. She knew her brother wouldn't lie about something like this. He really, truly believed he had something this time... And if he did, he'd be screwed going alone. "I meant, where do you think you're going all by yourself?"

Hiccup lit up as he threw his arms around his sister, "I thought you were mad at me!" He murmured, squeezing her as tightly as he possibly could.

"Oh, I am. I'm infuriated. You didn't listen to me and almost got yourself killed..." She deadpanned, making sure she got a rise out of him before adding, "But you're my brother. I'm not sending you on a dragon hunt by yourself."

"You did last night!" Hiccup pointed out, pulling back some to look her in the eye.

"I knew dad would hear you screaming for help. He won't hear you in the woods." She replied coolly. "Just be happy someone still has faith in you." Hiccup gave her a lopsided smile, and the two soon sped out the back door, looking for a downed Night Fury.

After probably half a day of relentless searching, Hiccup was beginning to get frustrated. He drew yet another X on the map he'd drawn in his notebook before scratching over the whole paper, frustrated. "Ugh, the gods hate me. Some people lose their knife or their mug. No, not me, I manage to lose an entire dragon." He was so wrapped up in his monologue, he didn't even notice that Audney was no longer walking beside him. He smacked a low hanging branch which whipped back to hit him in the eye. He turned to glare at the offensive branch and found that it was attached to a tree that had been snapped almost in half. He then notices a long trench of disturbed earth, as if something heavy had skid across it. He glanced back at Audney, his eyes wide as saucers.

"You... You really did it, Hiccup..." She said softly, and the twins followed the trench down to a downed dragon that was pure black, tied up in a bola. It appeared to be dead, so Hiccup threw caution to the wind and approached it.

"Oh wow. I did it. I did it! This fixes everything... Yes!" He proudly placed his foot on the fallen beast, putting on a show for his twin, "I have brought down this mighty beast!" The dragon shifted suddenly, and Audney yelped in surprise, pulling Hiccup back against her chest. "Woah!" Hiccup more or less fell back into his sister's arms. With a soft murmur of appreciation, he straightened up and withdrew his knife, unaware of the way Audney was eyeing him. She wasn't afraid of the dragon, not really... She was more worried that her twin would really go through with this. Beyond the point of no return. The thought made her quiver.

The downed dragon was staring at him, and for a moment Hiccup met it's gaze before he tore it away again, puffing himself up as if to intimidate the dragon, "I'm going to kill you, dragon. I'm gonna cut your heart out and take it to my father. I'm a Viking... I'm a VIKING!" Determined, Hiccup raised his dagger, and Audney closed her eyes, not wanting to see this, trying to prevent herself from screaming "no you're not!" and stopping him from making a terrible mistake, but no... She understood. This was a test from the Gods. She was not to interfere.

Hiccup opened an eye uncertainly and found himself met with the gaze of the dragon once more. For a time, they held each others' gazes before finally the Night Fury closed its eyes and lowered its head, apparently accepting the fact that it was going to die, and Hiccup tried to make that come true, he really did, struggling with himself, the dagger high over his head. After a few moments of shaky silence, he lowered the dagger and sighed, frustrated. Eyeing the dragon's wounds, he mumbled, "I did this..."

Audney's eyes blinked open to find... One not bleeding dragon and one intact Hiccup. "Let's go home, Audney," He mumbled, approaching her.

Audney frowned a bit, "What do you mean, go home? We can't just leave him like this, Hiccup. Either kill him or let him go." The dragon opened one eye to peer at the strange girl. Was she standing up for him? "You said yourself, you did this... So be a man! Take responsibility for your actions! Do the right thing!" Hiccup faltered for a moment, eyeing her suspiciously.

"You... you never wanted me to kill that dragon, did you?" He accused, stepping closer to her.

The girl averted her gaze, "Hiccup, you're not a Viking, not a traditional one, at least... You're special... And I know your heart is always in the right place, you just need to learn that being a viking isn't everything... It's okay to be a Hiccup, as long as you're yourself. You know?" She reached out cautiously and rested a hand on his shoulder before finally raising her eyes again, "It might not always be easy, but if you can't accept yourself, than who else could possibly accept you?"

Hiccup's eyes wandered over to the fallen dragon who was watching the two curiously. "I did this..." He mumbled again, and, after glancing over his shoulders to make sure that no one was watching, Hiccup cut the dragon free. Once the ropes fell loose, the dragon got to his feet and pinned Hiccup against a rock, staring into the frightened boy's eyes for a moment. Just as Audney moved to interfere, the dragon opened his mouth wide and let loose a deafening roar before scampering off. Hiccup got to his feet, then promptly fainted.

Curious, Audney left her brother for a moment to see where the dragon had gone. Though he was well camouflaged, she was able to see his grass green eyes in the shade of a boulder. She gulped back her natural fear and bowed to the mighty beast, "Thank you," She said softly, "My brother means well... I hope you aren't too badly injured." With this, she turned and ran off before the beast changed his mind, grabbing Hiccup up in her arms on the way. Somehow, she knew, in that moment, that their lives would never be the same.


	2. Clipped Wings

When Hiccup woke, he was faintly aware of the fact that he was moving. Opening his eyes, he looked up to see his sister's familiar face. "Good morning sunshine!" She greeted with a smirk, coming to a halt before dropping him flat on his back. Winded, he gasped for breath as she said, "That's for blowing me off last night." She then bent down and pulled him to his feet with a soft smile, "And that's for setting that Night Fury free."

Hiccup panicked, looking around for any possible eavesdroppers, "Shh!" He chided, "Don't say that so loudly!"

As it was, they were at the edge of the forest, just out of earshot of the nearest house. "Relax, nobody heard... And I'm proud of you." She draped an arm over the boy's shoulders and began walking towards their home, more or less dragging Hiccup along.

"Proud?!" Hiccup broke away when the words finally struck him, "Proud? What kind of Viking-" He glanced around nervously and lowered his voice, "What kind of Viking can't even kill a defenseless dragon?"

This time, Audney placed a hand on each of his shoulders, gazing intensely into his eyes, "The kind who's going to change the fate of Berk. The kind who will one day make the greatest chief this village has ever seen." Hiccup scoffed at this and shrugged her off, turning away to go home. Audney followed closely, murmuring, "I'm serious, you know. I really do believe that."

"You're just trying to make me feel better," Hiccup accused without a second thought.

"I'm doing no such thing." The girl protested, and finally a veil of silence fell between them. That is, until they got into their home, where they saw their father poking the coals in the fire pit with his axe. The pair attempted to sneak past him, but naturally, Stoick noticed their arrival.

"Hiccup. Audney." He called to them, and the siblings froze in their tracks, turning almost mechanically to face their father.

"Dad, uh..." Hiccup fumbled, "I, uh..." He glanced to Audney for support, but she simply nodded encouragingly, offering no sage wisdom nor quick escape. "I have to talk to you, dad."

"I need to speak with you, too. Both of you." Stoick replied. Audney's gaze shifted to the fire uncomfortably. She hated confrontations with her father such as this one. All she wanted was for him to recognize them as something more than a burden.

Both Hiccup and Stoick straightened and began at the same time. "I've decided I don't want to-"

"I think it's time you learn to fight dragons."

"-fight dragons." Father and son stared at each other, both asking "What?" Simultaneously.

"You go first," Stoick offered.

"No, you go first." Hiccup insisted, lowering his gaze a bit.

"Alright, you get your wish. Dragon training. You start in the morning. Audney, you, too." Stoick announced. Audney's jaw nearly hit the floor as she gaped at him.

"I-we-you-dragons..." She stuttered.

Hiccup winced and waved a hand in front of his twin's face, "Oh man, I should've gone first, you broke Audney. And uh, I was thinking, you know, we have a surplus of dragon-fighting Vikings, but do we have enough bread making Vikings, or small home repair Vikings?"

Stoick ignored this and handed Audney an axe. The girl was apparently too shell shocked to respond as he forced her to curl her fingers around the weapon before turning to give a matching one to Hiccup, "You'll need these." Hiccup, who was a bit more alert at the time, shied away from the weapon.

"I don't want to fight dragons." He mumbled.

"Come on. Yes, you do." Stoick encouraged.

"Rephrase, dad, I _can't_ kill dragons." Hiccup reiterated.

"We." Audney murmured in a soft, dry voice, apparently coming out of her state of shock.

"But you _will_ kill dragons." Stoick corrected, looking from one of his children to the other. It struck him as odd that even Audney was disagreeing with him. She was usually so obedient.

Hiccup was a bit panicked now, "No, I'm really very extra sure that we won't."

"Super certain," Audney supplied.

Apparently ignoring them both, Stoick said, "It's time, Hiccup. Audney."

"Can you not hear us?" Hiccup wondered aloud, "I am talking, aren't I Audney?"

"I can hear you," Audney confirmed, still looking a bit dazed.

"This is serious, son!" Stoick shoved the axe into Hiccup's hands, and when Hiccup struggled to hold it up, he straightened the boy out, forcing him to hold the axe upright, "When you carry this axe, you carry all of us with you... Which means you walk like us, you talk like us, you _think_ like us. No more of... This." He gestured in Hiccup's general direction.

"You just gestured to all of him." Audney pointed out, but was ignored.

"Deal?" Stoick demanded.

Hiccup raised his voice anxiously, "This conversation is feeling very one-sided."

"All conversations with him are," Audney muttered under her breath.

"DEAL?!" Stoick boomed, rage in his eyes as he glared at the two.

Hiccup looked down at the axe in his hands, then at his twin, who met his gaze with a sympathetic one. There was no way they were getting out of this. Stoick would never listen to them. "Deal," The twins muttered in tandem.

Seeming satisfied with this, Stoick grabbed his luggage and headed for the door, glancing back only to say, "Good. Train hard. I'll be back... Probably."

"And we'll be here..."

"Maybe," Audney supplied, and the two watched their father leave. Once he was gone, Audney threw the axe against the wall, where it stuck. "This feels wrong." She said bluntly.

"Ya think?" Hiccup heaved a sigh, setting his own axe down by the door, "What are we gonna do?"

Audney looked to him sadly, "The only thing we can do. Follow father's orders like good little monkeys."

"That's not much of a plan." Hiccup muttered.

"Have you got a better idea?" When the other said nothing, Audney brushed past him to their shared room, adding, "Then get some sleep. We'll need to have our wits about us tomorrow."

"That's not really thinking like them," Hiccup pointed out, but he followed her to their room nonetheless.

Come morning, the two trudged into the training arena like toy soldiers, lining up behind the other teens who seemed far more excited to be here than they were. "Welcome to dragon training!" Gobber boomed as the teens looked around themselves at the arena.

"No turning back." Astrid said firmly.

"I hope I get some serious burns!" Tuffnut enthused.

His twin, Ruffnut, seemed just as thrilled about prospective injuries, "I'm hoping for some mauling, like on my shoulder or lower back."

"Yeah, it's only fun if you get a scar out of it," Astrid agreed.

"Yeah, no kidding, right? Pain. Love it." The rest of the teens turned to face the pair, and Audney sighed loudly.

"I'm hoping for death, myself." She announced.

"Oh great. Who let _them_ in?" Tuffnut mumbled, gesturing to the two.

"Let's get started! The recruit who does the best will win the honor of killing his first dragon in front of the entire village!" Gobber announced, as if this were supposed to stimulate them to do their best. Hiccup and Audney shared a glance.

Snotlout, ever the charmer, snorted, "Hiccup already killed a Night Fury, so does that disqualify him or...?" The rest of the teens burst into laughter and began talking amongst themselves.

Tuffnut spoke up, "Can I transfer to the class with the cool Vikings?"

Gobber threw his arms over Hiccup and Audney's shoulders, trying to be supportive, "Don't worry. You're small and weak, that'll make you less of a target. They'll see you as sick or insane and go after the more Viking-like teens instead." With this, he shoved them both forward into line and headed towards the five massive reinforced gates from which earsplitting roars burst forth. Gobber continued, "Behind these doors are just a few of the many species you will learn to fight-" Fishlegs began to giggle like a young girl in love, but Gobber kept talking, "The Deadly Nadder," He gestured to one of the gates.

Fishlegs, trying to talk as quietly as he could, whispered, "Speed eight. Armor sixteen."

"The Hideous Zippleback."

"Plus eleven stealth, times two."

"The monstrous Nightmare."

"Firepower fifteen."

"The Terrible Terror."

"Attack eight, venom twelve."

Finally, Gobber had had enough, "CAN YOU STOP THAT?!" He roared angrily before forcing himself to calm down, "And... the Gronckle."

As softly as he could, Fishlegs murmured, "Jaw strength, eight."

Suddenly, Gobber pulled a lever, and the crossbeam over the Gronckle's door flew up. "Whoa, wait! Aren't you gonna teach us first?!" Snotlout wondered, taking a step back.

"I believe in learning on the job." Gobber stated, stepping back as he allowed the Gronckle to burst out of the cage. Nearly everyone scattered, trying to get away from the beast... Except for Ruffnut and Tuffnut, who raced toward it, clearly having death wishes.

"Today is about survival. If you get blasted, you're dead. Quick, what's the first thing you're going to need?" Gobber asked, looking to the teens.

"A doctor?" Hiccup wondered weakly.

"A doctor," Audney agreed firmly.

"Plus five speed?" Fishlegs tried.

"A shield." Astrid said, the only one who was certain about her response.

Gobber nodded, "Shields. Go." The teens scrambled to find shields, as Gobber continued, "Your most important piece of equipment is your shield. If you must make a choice between a sword and a shield, take the shield." While Audney had no problem balancing her axe in one hand and shield in another, her brother was struggling to lift his shield. Gobber helped him up and sent him into the fray. Ruffnut and Tuffnut were the only ones still without shields, as they were fighting over one with a skull painted on it.

"Get your hands off my shield!" Tuffnut shouted as he struggled to take the shield from his twin.

"There are like, a million shields!" Ruffnut protested, not giving in.

Audney edged over to Hiccup while the other set of twins argued. She wasn't going to let her brother out of her sight, that much was for certain. "Take that one, it has a flower on it. Girls like flowers." Tuffnut suggested, but rather than get his way, he got bashed in the head by the very shield he was fighting over, as Ruffnut had apparently lost her patience.

"Oops, now this one has blood on it." Ruffnut smirked, feeling clever. What they didn't realize was the fact that their fighting had drawn the attention of the Gronckle who took aim and fired at the twins, blasting the shield right out of their hands. The twins spun around like tops before falling to the ground.

"Tuffnut, Ruffnut, you're out!" Gobber announced.

"What?!" The dazed and confused twins shouted, trying to get their bearings as the Gronckle moved to a pile of rocks and scooped them up in its mouth, forcing them back down its throat. The remaining teens gathered on the far side of the ring, hoping for further instruction from Gobber. Luckily, they got it.

"Those shields are good for another thing. Noise. Make lots of it to throw off a dragon's aim." The teens gathered weapons and began banging them against their shields as Gobber had suggested, and it seemed to work pretty well. The Gronckle shook its head, disorientated. "All drgaons have a limited number of shots. How many does a Gronckle have?" Gobber asked the young Vikings.

"Five!" Exclaimed Snotlout.

"No, six." Fishlegs corrected, having memorized this fict.

"Correct, six. That's one for each of you, assuming Ruffnut and Tuffnut continue to make themselves a singular target!" Gobber called out with a small smirk.

In a tiny voice not at all befitting such a large boy, Fishlegs protested, "I don't think my parents-" Before he could finish this thought, the Gronckle blasted the shield out of his hands.

"Fishlegs, out." Gobber commentated, then seemed to notice that Hiccup and Audney were tucked safely out of the Gronckle's sight. "Hiccup, Audney, get in there!" He shouted to them.

Audney shot Gobber a look, "Rather not, thanks!"

She turned back in time to see Snotlout trying to flirt with Astrid, saying, "So anyway, I'm moving into my parents' basement. You should come by sometime to work out. You look like you work out." Just as the Gronckle shot at them, Astrid expertly cartwheeled out of the way, and the flaming magma soared past her and hit Snotlout's shield, the force throwing him onto his back.

"Snotlout! You're done!" Gobber called in as Astrid came to a stop beside Hiccup and Audney.

Fidgeting awkwardly, Hiccup tried, "So, I guess it's just the three of us now, huh?"

"No. Just you." Astrid corrected, rolling off in the nick of time once more, the magma shooting past her and knocking Hiccup's shield off his arm. The boy panicked, darting after his shield, which naturally attracted the attention of the Gronckle.

"Hiccup!" Audney and Gobber shrieked nearly in tandem as the Gronckle pinned Hiccup against the wall. Now in point-blank range, the dragon prepared to fire. Gobber moved to tear the Gronckle away from Hiccup, but at the last second, Audney grabbed the beast's thick tail and whirled it around, sending the blast off in the general direction of the cages.

"And that's six!" Gobber, trying to sound like he'd had this all figured out and hadn't nearly gotten the chief's only son killed, wrestled with the Gronckle, forcing it back into its cage. "Go back to bed, ya overgrown sausage! You'll get another chance, don't you worry," He assured the dragon. He slammed the gate shut and turned to the teens warning them, "Remember... a dragon will always," He shot a look to Hiccup, "_always_ go for the kill." With this, he pulled Hiccup to his feet and stalked off.

Hiccup glanced over at the wall where the shot that should have killed him had hit, leaving a steaming crater. Audney approached him shakily, "Are you alright?" She asked, throwing her arms around her brother, "You scared me half to death."

Too rattled to really respond, Hiccup tore away from her and started for the hidden cove where he'd last seen the downed dragon. "...Hiccup?" Naturally concerned, Audney followed the boy, though it didn't take long to figure out where he was going.

He knelt down, picking up the remnants of the bola he'd cut the Night Fury free from the day before, "So... why didn't you?" He murmured, examining the weapon. After a moment, he dropped the bola and headed in the direction he'd seen the dragon run off in just before he fainted. Dropping into a rocky trench, he followed it to a quiet, hidden cove.

Audney, taking in the view, said softly, "Pretty..." As she admired the sparkling spring near the center of said cove. She didn't have much time to look, however, for moments later, the very Night Fury they were looking for blasted past them, causing both teens to Recoil, hugging one another instinctively. When it seemed the danger had passed, they let go and leaned forward to watch the dragon struggle as he tried to climb the walls of the cove, flapping his wings but getting nowhere, and, eventually, pulling away from the wall to come down for a rough landing. Again and again the dragon attempted to climb the wall, and again and again he failed, crashing to the ground. "It's hard to watch," Audney murmured, sitting down beside Hiccup as the boy pulled out his notebook and began sketching the dragon.

Finally, the dragon seemed to give up on the wall and turned to the water, apparently seeing something just beneath the surface. He stuck his snout in the water and snapped his jaws, but the effort was fruitless. Defeated and weakened, he lowered his head. "Why don't you just... fly away?" Hiccup wondered aloud.

Audney glanced at the boy's sketch, noticing something was off. "Maybe he can't," She said softly, "You drew the tail wrong." She leaned over to erase the left half of the dragon's tail fin, in the process accidentally bumping the charcoal stick out of Hiccup's hand. The pair watched in horror as the stick rolled off of the ledge on which they were perched and bounced down into the cove, making a soft clattering noise with each rock it hit. The Night Fury raised his head and stared at them. No, not at them. At Hiccup. The two shared a look for a time before Hiccup finally couldn't take the guilt any longer and tore his eyes away, getting up and marching back in the general direction of the village. Audney cast a glance at the dragon, then at the retreating form of her brother. Cautiously, she slid down the slope, following the same path that the charcoal had.

The Night Fury bristled, glaring at the girl in the most menacing fashion he could muster. Audney knew how to take a hint and sat down, folding her legs. Indian-style. The dragon eyed her warily and took a cautious step closer, watching her every move. "You know, you're the same, you and I," She said softly. The dragon's ears perked at this. She was talking... to him? "I mean, our wings have been clipped. We'll never fly on our own again," She reiterated, "But perhaps, with just a little bit of trust, a tiny bit of hope... Maybe we can find a way to fill our wings with air once more." The dragon tipped his head to the side, much like a curious puppy, the expression practically begging her to go on.

Audney glanced back up at the rock face to ensure that her brother wasn't listening before continuing, "I could have it all, you know. Status. Power... My father's affections..." Her eyes became downcast as she pressed her hand to her forehead, holding back tears, "But all that is meaningless without my brother. So I made a decision, when we were young, when our mother passed, to clip my own wings. To stay by his side, forever. To give up everything I knew I was capable of for his sake... Because I know that he'll make a difference one day, in his own way, if even just one person has faith in him." She raised her head to meet the Night Fury's gaze once more, "So, Night Fury, I have no regrets. I know that my sacrifices will be the strength that guides me to reunite with my mother in Valhalla in the end. Never give up," She got to her feet, "Never stop fighting, and never lose faith... And perhaps you'll go farther than you think is possible right now." With this said, she cautiously edged nearer.

The dragon growled, glaring at her daringly as she withdrew a dagger. Before he could move to attack her, she flicked her wrist, and the weapon splashed into that fresh spring water, sending up a small cloud of blood that tainted the once pure spring. The dragon clearly smelled this, as his eyes darted between the girl and the water suspiciously, wanting to go after the fish. Audney took a few steps back, "Go on," She said softly, "It's for you." The Night fury stepped hesitantly into the water and retrieved the fish, removing the blade with his paws before practically inhaling the meal. By the time he looked up again, Audney was gone, and he was alone.

When Audney arrived at the great Hall, she was just in time to hear Gobber ask, "Where did Hiccup go wrong?" Hiccup was trying to sit with the other teens, but they weren't having any of it.

"He showed up." Ruffnut replied.

"He didn't get eaten." Tuffnut supplied.

Giving up on sitting with the others, Hiccup moved to sit alone at an empty table nearby. Audney heaved a sigh and joined him there as Astrid deadpanned, "He's never where he should be."

"Thank you, Astrid," Gobber praised as he got to his feet. He then noticed Audney, "Ah, Audney, how good of you to join now, who can tell me where Audney went wrong?"

"She was born as Hiccup's sister." Snotlout snorted, amused.

"She was paying too much attention to Hiccup." Astrid provided.

Audney glared at the girl, "I don't see what's wrong with that," She growled, "It's better than belittling."

"Alright ladies, break it up," Gobber scolded, giving up on pointing out Audney's flaws for the time being. He set a book down in the center of the table, "You need to live and breathe this stuff. The dragon manual. Everything we know about every dragon we know of." When there was a rumble of thunder, Gobber decided that the dragons, who relied mostly on fire to fight, would not be attacking that night. "No attacks tonight. Study up." With this, he left the teens to stare at the book.

"Wait, you mean read?" Tuffnut asked incredulously.

"While we're still alive?" Ruffnut agreed.

Snotlout scowled, "Why read words when you can just kill the stuff the words tell you about?" He wondered aloud.

"Oh! I've read it like, seven times." Fishlegs announced, "There's this water dragon that sprays boiling water at your face. And there's this other one that buries itself for like a week-" Fishlegs continued to prattle on about the dragons listed in the book until Tuffnut finally said.

"Yeah, that sounds great. There was a chance I was going to read that..."

"But now..." Ruffnut finished.

Getting to his feet, Snotlout said, "You guys read, I'll go kill stuff." He turned to leave, and everyone but Astrid, Hiccup, and Audney followed. Fishlegs mostly following them because he wanted to blather on more about the book and dragons within it.

"So I guess we'll share-" Hiccup tried, but Astrid shoved the book toward him and his sister.

"Read it." She said, turning to leave.

"All ours then. Wow, so okay, I'll see you-" He was cut off by the slamming of the door of the great hall as Astrid left, "Tomorrow," He finished sheepishly and heaved a sigh.

Audney rolled her eyes, "I honestly don't know what you see in her, Hiccup. Spiteful little-"

"Hey, hey now, take it easy," Hiccup soothed, "She's just being cool in front of her friends, she'll come around."

"And what kind of friend is that?" Audney wondered dryly, taking the book from Hiccup as she began to flip through it. She already knew what he was looking for, and quite frankly, she was quite interested in finding it herself.

Reading aloud over her shoulder, Hiccup murmured, "Dragon classifications. Strike class. Fear class. Mystery class." Audney turned the page, "Thunderdrum. This reclusive dragon inhabits sea caves and dark tide pools. When startled the Thunderdrum can produce a concussive sound that can kill a man at close range. Extremely dangerous. Kill on sight."

Audney turned another page, murmuring, "I can read too, you know," But Hiccup wasn't really listening, which was probably a good thing. This way, Audney knew when to turn the page.

"Timberjack. This gigantic creature has razor sharp wings that can slice through full grown trees... extremely dangerous. Kill on sight. Scauldron. Sprays scalding water at its victims. Extremely dangerous. Changewing. Even newly hatched dragons can spray acid. Kill on sight." Audney began flipping through the now painfully repetitive pages at a quicker pace, giving Hiccup last time to read, though he tried to keep up. "Gronckle. Zippleback. The Skrill. Bone Knapper. Whispering Death. Burns its victims. Buries its victims. Chokes its victims. Turns its victims inside out. Extremely dangerous, extremely dangerous... Kill on sight, kill on sight, kill on sight..." Finally, they landed on the page they'd been looking for. "Night Fury."

Audney looked down at the mostly blank page, rather unimpressed by the lack of information as her brother recited what little there was. "Speed unknown. Size unknown. The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself. Never engage this dragon. Your only chance, hide and pray it does not find you..."

Recalling her moment alone with the dragon, Audney shook her head, "That doesn't sound right..." She watched as her brother withdrew the sketch of the dragon from his notebook and began drawing it in the Book of Dragons. "Mmm... I'm going to bed, Hiccup. Don't stay up too much longer. Deadly Nadder's tomorrow." With this, she leaned in and kissed his forehead affectionately before heading off.

"Yeah, night," Hiccup mumbled, not really listening to her as he focused on the task at hand. He just couldn't get the dragon out of his head. If he was so deadly and so short-tempered, why had he spared Hiccup and Audney? Twice, even! It just wasn't adding up!

* * *

So, I realize I forgot to say this before, but... Please review. I love reviews. They let me know that you care about the story and want to hear more. Or that you hate the story and think I should discontinue it... Sometimes reviews even give me ideas that inspire me to alter the course of the story!

Also, I know this is taking a long time, really, I do, but we'll be meeting Drake and Draco soon. Within like, the next two chapters I'd guess. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it!


	3. Testing the Waters

The next morning, in the training arena, Audney kept herself somewhat distanced from Hiccup. Not on purpose, really, more because she was distracted, lost in thoughts about a certain Night Fury. Hiccup was nervously running his finger over the outline of a dragon on a shield as he built up the courage to ask Gobber if he knew anything more about Night Furies. Usually, he had no problem talking to Gobber, but this was a bit different. If he gave away the fact that he knew the location of a Night Fury and hadn't actually been able to kill it, he'd likely be killed himself. Or worse, become an Outcast. Gulping back these thoughts, he asked, "You know, I just happened to notice the book had nothing on Night Furies. Is there another book? Or a sequel? Maybe a little Night Fury pamphlet?" Taking his eyes off of the Deadly Nadder that had previously been chasing the other teens through a maze of makeshift walls blasted the axe head right off the hilt of Hiccup's weapon, leaving a smoking hole in the wall behind him. Yelping in surprise, he ran off, desperately trying to get away from the dragon.

Gobber frowned a bit, "Focus Hiccup! You're not even trying! Audney, you too, get in there!" Normally, the girl would be all over her brother, especially after such an attack, but instead, she was just staring at the Nadder with a blank expression, as if none of what was happening concerned her at all. With a bit of a sigh, Gobber continued, "Today... is all about attack." The Nadder, apparently having realized that the walls were low enough to land on, hopped from the top of one to another as the teens were sent in all directions. "Nadders are quick and light on their feet. Your job is to be quicker and lighter."

The recruits, with the exceptions of Audney and Hiccup, moved in, stumbling over the boy and his shield. Suddenly, the dragon noticed Fishlegs' behind and shot spikes out of its tail. Shrieking, Fishlegs moved the wall to protect himself from impalement. "I'm really beginning to question your teaching methods," He whimpered.

"Look for its blind spot. Every dragon has one. Find it, hide in it, and strike." Gobber commanded, seeming rather bored.

Ruffnut and Tuffnut, always eager to put themselves in harms way, rushed right up to the Nadder's nose. The beast sniffed at the air curiously, but didn't seem to see them. Too close to her twin for her liking, Ruffnut whispered, "Do you ever bathe?"

"If you don't like it, then just get your own blind spot!" Tuffnut suggested, further aggravating his twin.

"How about I give you one?!" Ruffnut threatened and the two began shoving each other immaturely until the combination of noise, movement, and smell gave them away. The Deadly Nadder snapped at both of them.

Amused, Gobber commented, "Blind spot? Yes. Deaf spot? Not so much." While everyone else (except Audney, who was lazily leaning against one of the cage doors, seeming lost in thought) rushed past, Hiccup toddled over to Gobber, who was safely outside the ring.

"Hey, so how would one sneak up on a Night Fury?" He wondered, trying to make his question seem relevant to the lesson.

"No one's ever met one and lived to tell the tale. Now get in there, and smack your sister one while you're at it." Gobber replied, losing interest again.

"I know, I know, but hypothetically..."

Astrid, who was trying to hide, whispered, "Hiccup!" And gestured for him to shut up and hide. Much to the surprise of, well, everyone involved, the Nadder hopped over the walls and landed right in front of the girl. Astrid, thinking fast, somersaulted into the beast's blind spot, confusing it. Just as she braced herself to strike, Snotlout stepped between the girl and dragon, trying to protect her.

"Watch out, babe, I'll take care of this." He told her confidently.

"Hey!" Astrid huffed angrily. Snotlout moved to attack and missed, earning a harsh glare from the girl.

Snotlout, following the girl through the maze, said defensively, "The sun was in my eyes, Astrid! What do you want me to do, block out the sun? I could do that, but I don't have time right now!" The clearly infuriated Nadder chased after her, knocking down the walls in the process, but Astrid expertly dove and jumped, managing to go unscathed.

Hiccup, seeing that he was no longer expected to hide, walked up to Gobber again and began, "They probably take the daytime off. You know, like a cat. Has anyone ever seen one napping?

"Hiccup!" Gobber called out suddenly.

"Hiccup!" The boy spun around just in time to see the maze walls falling like dominoes in his direction. Astrid came flying out from the dust and crashed into Hiccup, landing on top of him, their arms and legs wound up in each other like pretzels.

"Oooh! Love on the battlefield!" Tuffnut jeered.

"She could do better," Ruffnut commented, not bothering to consider the fact that they might both be dead in a moment, as the Nadder enclosed on the tangled heap of Viking teens.

Struggling to free himself of Astrid, Hiccup muttered, "Just... Let me... Why don't you..." The Nadder was racing towards them now, and Astrid, just in time, managed to break free and grab for her axe. Unfortunately, she found that it was stuck in Hiccup's shield, which seemed firmly attached to his arm. Stomping on the boy's chest, she yanked the axe- and shield- free of Hiccup, then turned, swinging the strange new weapon at the Nadder, whacking it across the muzzle. The beast yelped and rushed off, leaving the two alone.

"Well done Astrid," Gobber murmured before forcing the Nadder back into its cage, deciding that the lesson was done. The moment he was finished with the dragon, he turned to Audney, who was standing in front of the next cage over and bellowed, "AUDNEY!"

She flinched at the sound of her name and looked to Gobber, shocked, "Don't yell at me!"

Gobber leaned in close and growled, "What exactly were you doing just now? Were you paying any attention at all? You could've been killed- HICCUP could've been killed. Doesn't that concern you at all? I thought you were supposed to be his almighty protector!"

Audney blinked, "Why, what happened?"

"Your brother was almost killed by that Nadder, that's what!" Gobber forced himself to calm down, "The two of you had better start taking things seriously around here. I don't know what I'm going to tell Stoick when he returns." With this, he hobbled off.

Feeling rather guilty, Audney turned to look for Hiccup, but he was already gone. She heaved a sigh and rubbed her temples in annoyance. "Must I be my brother's keeper _all_ the time?" She muttered under her breath. After a moment, she seemed to decide that yes, yes she did have to be his keeper and went off in search of the boy.

She found him some time later on her way to the cove. After finding that he was not home or in the Great Hall, she decided that the only other place that made sense would be the cove and went running for it, only to find him on his way there himself. "Where have you been?"

The boy jumped in surprise before wheeling around, trying to hide a shield behind his back. "I was just, uh, you know, going for a walk, and-"

"Hiccup, don't lie to me. You're going to see the dragon, right? What did I tell you about running off by yourself?" Audney came in close suddenly and grabbed one of his arms, ripping it forward to find a fish dangling limply from it. "A shield and a fish. You're going to try to feed it?"

Caught red-handed, Hiccup gave up, "I just feel bad, you know, it's my fault and-"

"Did I say I was angry?" She cut in with a soft smile before brushing past him, "I'm not against it, Hiccup, I just don't like it when you go off by yourself. I worry about you, you know." Heaving a sigh of relief, Hiccup trailed after his twin, feeling much better knowing that she was with him in case something went wrong.

When the two made it to the cove, Hiccup cautiously tossed a fish out onto the dirt, then peered over his shield to watch it, trying to see if the dragon would come for it. Audney, who had chosen a spot with a better view, rolled her eyes. He really was pathetic. Couldn't he have thrown it any farther? Still, she knew this dragon wasn't shy about eating in front of people after the previous day, so she boldly hopped over the rock she'd been hiding behind and started for the fish. "Audney!" Hiccup scolded and tried to come out after his sister, but found himself stuck between two boulders where the shield had firmly lodged itself. He ducked under it and came out to pick up the fish.

Suddenly, from behind Hiccup and Audney, there was a snort, and the two wheeled around to see the dragon eyeing them, perched on a rock with his tail twitching, much like a cat stalking its prey. As the Night fury slowly descended from its perch and neared the two, Audney nudged Hiccup, "Well, go on, hand it over!" She prodded.

The boy gulped back his fear and held it out delicately by the gills. The Night Fury suddenly took a step back, hissing at Hiccup, eyeing the dagger that was previously concealed by his vest. Hiccup began to reach for it, and the dragon growled. Audney tensed, ready to step in and fight the Dragon if it tried anything, but when Hiccup carefully withdrew the weapon and tossed it aside, the dragon seemed to calm down a bit, though he was still nervous. He looked from the knife to the water, and it took a moment for Hiccup to realize what it wanted him to do. Using his foot, he lifted the dagger and tossed it into the water. Once it was gone, the dragon seemed to immediately relax. Hiccup extended the fish to him once more, and the dragon slowly, cautiously, came forward with his mouth wide open, revealing his gummy jaws.

"Huh. Toothless. I could've sworn you had-" Suddenly, razor sharp teeth burst forth from the dragon's mouth as he snatched the fish away from Hiccup, more or less swallowing it whole. "Teeth!" Hiccup and Audney were both a bit startled by this revelation initially, but after a few moments of clinging to each other, they settled down and released one another. The dragon, now finished, took a step closer to the pair, and Hiccup started backing up nervously. The dragon eventually backed him up against a rock, where the boy cowered, "Uh, no. No, I don't have any more..." He looked to Audney, who, on any other occasion, would have moved in to defend him before it even got to this point, but was now standing by calmly, looking on. It didn't look to her like the dragon was being aggressive. It had shown aggression earlier, so she now knew what Night Fury agression looked like. This... was something else.

The dragon leaned in close to Hiccup then... regurgitated about half the fish onto Hiccup's lap and sat down expectantly. Realizing that the dragon expected him to eat this partially digested fish, Hiccup picked it up with a thoroughly disgusted expression. Gagging, he managed to take a bite of the fish, "Mmm-mmhmm," He mumbled with a mouth full of raw regurgitated fish. Toothless didn't seem to accept this as enough and mimicked swallowing, showing Hiccup what he wanted him to do. The boy, with some difficulty, swallowed and forced a smile.

Audney, who had been chuckling over Toothless' shoulder, moved beside her brother and sat down, "Isn't that sweet?"

"Charming." Hiccup muttered under his breath. To his surprise, Toothless came in close and lifted the remaining fish out of Hiccup's lap, dropping it instead in Audney's. "Ah, looks like it's your turn... That's weird though... I'm the one that fed him, not you."

Audney lifted the fish by the tail between two fingers and took a generous bite, having much less trouble than Hiccup had when it came to chewing and swallowing the raw meat. She glanced to Hiccup and said, "I don't see what your problem is. It's no worse than smoked eel." Hiccup chuckled a bit at his sister's joke of poor taste before both turned to look at the dragon, still smiling a bit... Then, the most peculiar thing happened. Apparently the dragon felt left out, because he distorted his face and raised his lips, making what appeared to be an attempt at a smile.

Amazed by this, Hiccup leaned forward and attempted to touch the dragon, who recoiled and promptly hissed at him before rushing off to the opposite end of the cove, where he used his firey breath to heat up a mossy rock before curling up on it, apparently prepared to sleep. Hiccup went over to get a closer look while Audney waded into the water of the cove to retrieve the dagger she'd left the day before. She had just spotted the weapon when suddenly there was movement out of the corner of her eyes. The dragon had bolted away from Hiccup and was hanging upside-down from a tree. The girl giggled and called, "Ah, let him sleep, Hiccup. You wouldn't want to sleep with a dragon standing over your bed watching you, would ya?"

Hiccup seemed to agree with this and let the Night Fury be, deciding instead to sit and watch from afar, sketching in his notebook. Audney tromped out of the water and over to Hiccup where she sat beside him to watch him draw. Though she didn't share his talent for drawing. When she grew tired of this, she lie on her back to try to find shapes within the clouds, though, probably because of her twin's drawing theme, the only ones she seemed to recognize were ones that vaguely resembled Night Furies. Because of this, she was only able to find two (and a head) before the dragon itself awoke. Of course, she didn't notice this until it was more or less right on top of her, looking down at... Hiccup. Watching what he was doing.

Sitting up, Audney found that Hiccup had apparently run out of room in his notebook, as he was now drawing in the sand with a stick. Toothless watched for a time before lumbering off on his hind legs, only to return shortly after with a sapling in his mouth. Realizing that Hiccup was only pretending not to see Toothless to keep from frightening him off, Audney bit her tongue to keep from snickering at the peculiar sight, silently willing her brother to add that in to his drawing.

Tipping his head to the side, the Night fury began dragging the young tree along the ground, making random lines and squiggles. As if to make a point that he knew Hiccup and Audney were pretending not to see them, he went directly between them with his line-making at one point, smacking Hiccup in the face with the sapling. Unable to control herself, Audney burst out laughing, only to be silenced moments later when she was bowled over by a blow from the tree that seemed to be meant specifically for her. She blinked in surprise for a moment before resuming her giddy laughter, relishing the moment. Here she was, being playfully knocked to the ground by the most fearsome beast that Berk's Vikings had ever seen as he mimicked a human drawing in the dirt. It's not every day you see something with a description such as "the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself" playing with such frivolity and innocence.

Finally, the dragon seemed to be done as he sat back, admiring his handiwork, seeming rather pleased with himself. Hiccup, who had long since stopped drawing, got to his feet and admired the drawing around him. He and Audney had quite different reactions to this. While she had burst into laughter at just the thought of it, he was positively in awe... Not that the drawing really resembled anything at all, but the thought behind it was impressive, to say the least. Wanting to get a view from a better angle, Hiccup began to walk outside of the scribbles, accidentally dropping his foot on one of the lines in the process The proud dragon growled a warning at him, causing Audney to tense and sit up immediately.

Hiccup recoiled instinctively, and the moment Hiccup's foot was off of the line, Toothless seemed to calm down. He tested this by placing his foot on the line again, which was met with the same response. After trying one more time to be sure that was the problem, Hiccup tried stepping over the line. This seemed to be acceptable, so he continued, carefully watching the lines so as not to step on them, he twirled about in somewhat of a dance until suddenly, he backed into something. Audney, who had been watching the highly entertaining sight, stiffened. He had backed into the Night Fury.

The dragon snorted in annoyance, and Hiccup wheeled around to face him. Their eyes met for a moment before Hiccup cautiously held out his hand. The dragon faltered, causing Hiccup to turn away nervously and squeeze his eyes closed. The Night Fury glanced over at Audney nervously for a fraction of a second before he seemed to remember something. He leaned in very slowly and touched his muzzle to Hiccup's hand, much to the boy's amazement. Before Hiccup had a chance to move, Toothless turned and bolted, leaving him stunned. "Did you see that, Audney?" He managed.

"Mmm," She got to her feet and crossed the scribbles to her twin, standing behind him as he stared after the dragon. Placing her hands on his shoulders, she leaned in close and whispered in his ear, "I think he likes you."

* * *

For those of you wondering what Toothless remembered, he was looking at her trying to remember what she had done when he'd seen her make that expression. The answer was, press her hand against her temples, so he thought maybe that's what Hiccup wanted him to do, that it would help somehow.

This is just dragging on and on, I know, but I have to go through the steps before we get to the other dragons, otherwise things won't make sense. Introductions of Drake and Draco are (for sure) going to be in the next chapter. It might be a little long, but it's gonna happen. *determined face*


	4. Shifting Skies

That evening, the group of teens were gathered around a blazing fire with Gobber, roasting and eating whole chickens... Except for Hiccup and Audney, who decided one fish might be a more appropriately sized meal. Gobber was in the midst of telling a horror story, taking massive bites out of his chicken whenever he saw fit. Talking with your mouth full was not looked down upon in their community. "...And with one twist he took my hand and swallowed it whole. And I saw the look on his face. I was delicious. He must have passed the word, because it wasn't a month before another one of them took my leg!"

Audney yawned and leaned against her brother's shoulder, rather annoyed with this whole "dragons are evil" bit. After meeting the downed "offspring of lightning and death itself," she couldn't help but have her doubts about these stories.

"Isn't it weird to think that your hand was inside a dragon? Like if your mind was still in control of it, you could have killed the dragon from the inside by crushing his heart or something." Fishlegs enthused. Audney winced at the thought. Sickening, really, and not something she needed to picture before eating.

"I swear I'm so angry right now! I'll avenge your beautiful hand and your beautiful foot. I'll chop off the legs of every dragon I fight. With my face!" Snotlout looked to Astrid for approval as he said this, but she merely rolled her eyes in response.

Snickering, Audney mumbled, "As long as you don't plan on slicing them with your sharp tongue and blinding them with the brightness of your mind."

With a mouthful of chicken, Gobber mumbled, "Uh-uhnn. It's the wings and the tails you really want. If it can't fly, it can't get away. A downed dragon is a dead dragon."The girl straightened at this and shared a look with her twin, both trying to hide their horror. What about that dragon in the cove?

Gobber stood and announced, "Alright, I'm off to bed. Tomorrow we get into the big boys, slowly but surely working our way up to the Monstrous Nightmare... But who'll win the honor of killing it?" After building the suspense, he hobbled off into the night, leaving the teens to talk among themselves.

Tuffnut, breaking the tension, said matter-of-factly, "It's gonna be me. It's my destiny. See?" He rolled up his sleeve, flaunting a red dragon on his arm.

Fishlegs was shocked, "Your mom let you get a tattoo?!"

Rolling his eyes, the boy corrected, "It's not a tattoo, it's a birthmark."

Ruffnut was suspicious. "Okay, I've been stuck with you since birth and that was never there before.

"Yes it was," Tuffnut defended, "You've just never seen me from the left side until now."

"It wasn't there yesterday. Is it a birthmark or a today-mark?" Snotlout wondered as Hiccup set his fish down and crept away from the others with Astrid's eyes locked on him.

Audney, making more of a scene, threw her stick and fish into the flames, "I'm suddenly and inexplicably not hungry. Must be coming down with something. G'night guys," She waved and took her leave, walking casually for a few steps before running after Hiccup. Grabbing his shoulder to stop him, she said, "Hiccup, I know you feel bad, but there's nothing we can do about it now. Gobber's right, it's only a matter of time before somebody-" She glanced around them to make sure nobody was listening, "You know..."

Hiccup balled his hands into fists, visibly upset, "Well what am I supposed to do then? I can't just leave him there! It's my fault this happened in the first place! If I'd just listened to you and stayed inside... I have to do something!"

The girl heaved a sigh, "Hiccup, I know you're upset, but there's nothing we can do. He can't fly without his tail fin."

"Right," Hiccup mused, raising a finger thoughtfully, "But people can't walk without legs."

"Are we stating the obvious? Because if we are, I have a few things I'd like to-"

"Gobber can still walk." He pointed out, "And he can still use both his hands, though he's lost one, see? If I can find a way to replace it, then-"

Audney rolled her eyes, "Will you listen to yourself?! A fake wing? A metal stick for a leg is one thing, but a wing has to be flexible and just the right weight, just the right length, it has to be _perfect_, Hiccup, I'm sorry, but that's just not a very... possible thing to do."

"I have to at least try." Hiccup replied, determined. "I can't just sit back and do nothing. I have to try." With this, he stormed off to the forge, leaving Audney to stare after him.

That morning, just before dawn, the girl was roughly shaken awake. Thinking there was something horribly, wrong, she sat up immediately, "Wha-who-wha' happened?" She blinked over at Hiccup groggily. The boy was beaming proudly, holding something big and brow out to her.

"See? I did it!" He showed her how the new prosthetic tail fin moved, rattling on and on about it until she finally got tired of it and cut him off.

"Were you up all night working on that?" He averted her gaze. "Go to sleep, Hiccup, it's too early to be awake yet!" She grumbled rolling over so her back was to him.

"Well, okay," Hiccup began as he turned to leave, "I just wanted to warn you since you said not to go to the cove without telling you." The girl's eyes snapped open, and, moments later, she found herself helping her twin carry a massive basket full of fish into the forest, Hiccup rambling the entire way about the design and construction of the tail fin.

When they finally made it to the cove, the dragon came out to greet them, sniffing suspiciously as he kept his distance. "Hey Toothless, I brought breakfast. I hope you're hungry," Hiccup said, kicking the basket over to spill fish everywhere. "Okay, that's disgusting," He added, wrinkling his nose at the site of the pile of raw fish.

"Toothless?" Audney questioned, "Toothless? Seriously? _That's_ the name you pick." Hiccup more or less ignored her as she burst out laughing, "He's not even really toothless! Perfect name though, it goes with yours so well. Hiccup the Useless and his dragon Toothless!" She turned off to the side to chuckle to herself.

Toothless was already settling in to eat as Hiccup listed the types of fish, "Uh, we've got some salmon, some nice Icelandic cod... and a whole smoked eel." Toothless panicked at the sound of that, hissing at the food angrily.

"No, no, no! It's okay. Yeah, we don't like eel much either." He assured the dragon, pulling the eel out of the pile.

"Don't really know anyone who does," Audney, seeming to have calmed down some, added softly.

As Toothless continued eating, Hiccup started to slink around behind the dragon, "Okay, that's it. That's it, just stick with the good stuff. And don't you mind me, I'll just be back... here... minding my own business..."

Audney snickered at her brother's obvious lies and followed him to the Night Fury's wounded tail, but the moment Hiccup got close, Toothless moved it, swishing it much like a cat might."Audney, help please?" Hiccup murmured before saying a bit more loudly to the dragon, "It's okay," More or less straddling the dragon't tail now, Hiccup began strapping the fin into place while Audney held the tip of the tail still with both hands. "Okay... Okay," Hiccup admired his handiwork, not noticing that Toothless seemed to notice a difference in his tail and had stopped eating. "There, not too bad. It works." Suddenly, Toothless bolted and took off. Hiccup threw his arms instinctively around the tail while Audney was just barely managing to hang on from where she sat. They were in the air before she had thee chance to let go, so she was just dangling from the end of Toothless' tail. "Woah! No! No no!" Hiccup shrieked, holding on as tight as he could. Suddenly, they went into an uncontrolled dive, and it took a moment for Hiccup to see the problem. The fake fin was folded against his tail, fluttering uselessly, while the real fin opposite it was flared. He reached forward and pulled the fin open with force just in time. Toothless managed to arc just above the water and high into the air. "It's working!" He enthused to Audney.

The girl, who's palms were aching from holding on so long, smiled bitterly, "I was hoping for a malfunction, actually," She admitted.

Hiccup didn't seem to hear her. "Yes! Yes, I did it!" Toothless glanced over his shoulder at Hiccup, apparently just now noticing the boy's presence. He lashed his tail, sending the twins flying through the air. Hiccup landed in the water and Toothless did the same, without Hiccup to hold his tail open. "Yeah!" Hiccup cheered in spite of the crash. "Audney, did you _see_ that?!" When no snarky response came, he got out of the water to look for her. "...Audney?" Slightly panicked, he shouted, "This isn't funny, you know! Where are you, Audney?"

Toothless lumbered out of the water and over to Hiccup, eyeing him worriedly. Not having anywhere else to turn, Hiccup met the dragon's gaze and begged, "Please help me find her." Apparently, Toothless was sick of Hiccup, because he rushed to the opposite end of the cove without looking back.

"Great." Hiccup heaved a sigh and turned his eyes to the sky. It was nearly time for dragon training, and he couldn't be late. "Well, Audney knows her way around the island. I'm sure she'll come home eventually... probably." Deflated of his former glory from his successes, Hiccup headed off to the arena where the other teens (and Gobber) waited.

* * *

Audney

Audney awoke with a massive headache on unfamiliar territory. No, that wasn't entirely true. She'd _seen_ this place before, just not from up so close. The peak of Raven Point. She was on a rocky outcropping complete with a cave, and it took her a moment to figure out how she'd gotten there. "Ugh. Hiccup," She grumbled, rubbing the back of her head. When she fell off of Toothless, because of her position at the tip of his tail, she'd gone much farther than both of them, flung off to the side. Glancing down at her hands, she noted that they were bloodied and sore from the rough scales of Toothless' fin.

Getting to her feet, she shook out her arms and legs, "Well, at least I didn't break anything," She murmured, trying to look at the positives. It really was miraculous that she'd managed to refrain from breaking any bones with what was surely a rough landing... Unfortunately, there wasn't really a safe way to get down from the cliff on which she was perched. Because it was more or less just a ledge outside of a cave, there weren't really and slopes or even rocks to climb down on. "Aaaargh!" More than a little bit angry, she kicked a strangely shaped rock formation, which sneezed in response. "..." Kneeling down, she now punched the rock, finding it gave easily, more like flesh than stone.

"Why do you keep hitting me?!" The rock whimpered.

Taken aback, Audney jumped to her feet and took several steps back until her heels were hanging precariously over the edge of the rocky outcrop. "Rocks don't talk." She tried to reason with herself, "I must have eaten something bad."

"I'm not supposed to talk to humans. You should go before my father comes back." The rock warned softly.

"Rocks... have parents?" Audney rubbed her eyes, "What _are _you?"Finally giving up on his disguise, the young dragon known as Drake returned to his natural state. Unfortunately, Audney, who had not been expecting this turn of events in the slightest, lost her balance and fell backwards off the ledge. "Waaah!" She shrieked, desperately clawing at the air, trying to find something to hold on to.

Drake panicked and dove off after the girl, knowing he'd regret watching her fall to her death more than he would trying to save her and getting scolded by his father for it. Audney was reaching for him with both arms, and, just before she hit the ground, he managed to wrap his front claws around her and pull up sharply, giving her a bit of whiplash, but it was better than the alternative. Drake seemed just as shocked as Audney herself. "I- I did it! I'm flying!" He cheered, almost giddy at the thought as they climbed higher into the sky.

"You mean you've never done this before?!" Audney whimpered, now even more afraid for her life.

"Of course not, I'm just a hatchling!" Drake replied, "I'm only a few months old! Father said he'd teach me to fly when he felt I was ready, but this is so much more fun!"

"Yeah, speak for yourself there you nutcase!" Audney heaved a sigh, looking down at the ground that was slowly fading out of her line of sight. "How about you work on landing before my arms fall off?"

Drake ducked his head to look at her, "Do they really do that?"

Audney blinked, just beginning to realize how truly clueless this dragon was when it came to, well, life. "They're not supposed to," She admitted, "Look, just bring us back to the ground, alright?"

"I don't know how," Drake mumbled sheepishly, "Up works better."

"Well as far as I know, you won't be able to land on the clouds," Audney pointed out, trying to remember how Toothless had flown, what different positions of his wings did in accordance with altitude. "Alright, try leaning forward, tip the front of your wings down."

Drake faltered for a moment, "Like... this?" He adjusted himself ever-so-slightly and suddenly they were full-on nose-diving towards the beach.

Praying to the gods that no one was seeing this Audney shouted, "Not that much!" Then, she realized something. If this was his first time flying, it would be his first time landing, and if it was anything like the first time infants tried to walk, it could only end one way. A crash landing, in which she would be crushed under his weight. "Aim more for the ocean!" She corrected.

"I can't swim," Drake complained, though he did what she suggested anyway.

"Good thing you're a fast learner!" Audney gave Drake a devilish grin that was rather wasted on the dragon who was trying to focus on his landing. "Okay, on the count of three, drop me, then keep going down until you hit the water."

Drake hesitated, "Are you sure about this?"

Audney didn't give him the chance to reconsider. The water was getting closer, and if they went down with Drake hanging onto her like this, she'd surely drown. "One... two... three!" The dragon wavered for only a moment before dropping her into the waters below, going down with a mighty splash only moments later.

When Audney resurfaced, she swam through the icy water to the dragon and did her best to heave his head up above the water. It took some time, but she managed, somehow. "Alright, listen, the first thing about swimming is air. If your lungs are full of air, you'll float. Kick your legs or bat your wings to help keep you up, just like hovering in the air." After several moments of Drake gasping for breath like a fish out of water, he managed to calm down enough to understand her words and do what she said.

Now able to stay on the surface, he looked around himself proudly, "Hey, this isn't too bad," He murmured.

"But you're not getting anywhere just floating like that," She pointed out. "Now watch me and do what I do, alright?"

"I'll try," Drake confirmed. Seeming satisfied with this, Audney, making a point to use both her arms and legs, began to paddle in the general direction f the shore, then glanced back to check on this point, she was shivering violently, and she knew she couldn't keep it up for much longer. While she wasn't too bad at swimming, as most of Berk's Vikings were fairly used to it, she didn't have quite as much insulation as them, and it wasn't taking long for hypothermia to set in. Drake noticed this and asked, "Are you supposed to be blue?"

"S-shut up," She muttered, teeth chattering, "Try s-swimming." The dragon did as he was told and it wasn't long before the pair washed up on shore. Fortunately for them, they had managed to land on the opposite end of the island from the village, so the chances of anyone seeing them were slim. She put together a pile of firewood and lit it, with much difficulty. After several moments of silence, watching the fire crackle, Audney finally said, "Thank you for saving me back there."

"Well, it was my fault. I didn't mean to frighten you... It's just, father told me that I shouldn't talk to humans until the eyes of Draco fall upon Gemini." Drake explained, rather tired from the day's events.

"The constellations?" Audney wondered aloud, "What does that matter?"

Drake closed his eyes, "It is foretold in a prophecy that on the night that Draco and Gemini see eye-to-eye, so too will a dragon and a twin. Brought together by a turn of fate, the unlikely pair would change history for mankind and dragonkind alike. Father said that not long after my egg was lain, he began to notice lights in the night sky, also mentioned in the prophecy, so he took my still unhatched egg and followed them here... We've been living up in that mountain ever since."

Audney drew her legs to her chest, considering this. "Why does your dad care so much about some stupid stars?" She asked finally.

"They're not stupid!" Drake defended, eyes snapping open as he raised his head suddenly. "It's... It's said that dragons who live honorable lives will, in death, join their brothers as a star in the constellation Draco, and that comfort can be found in those stars by anyone who cares to look."

The girl rested her chin on her knees, deciding not to tell Drake that she was, in fact, a twin. If this prophecy were true, she didn't want to influence it by showing her hand. Instead, she asked, "But don't you get lonely up there, just the two of you?"

"Well, sure," Drake murmured, "But it won't be much longer now..."

"You're probably better off, anyway. When Vikings see dragons they kill first and ask questions later." She said softly.

"But you didn't," Drake countered.

Audney chuckled softly, "I said that's what Vikings do. Me... I'm not like them. Sure I live among and am related to them, but I just don't feel that deeply-rooted hatred for dragons that the others seem to..." She got to her feet. The sun was beginning to set now, and, although she knew she could find her way home in the dark, she wasn't entirely sure the same could be said for the dragon. "You should get back. Your father will be upset if you aren't home, right?"

Drake seemed a bit disappointed by this. "Will I see you again?" He wondered aloud.

With a small smile, she replied, "Only the gods could hope to know the answer to that." She paused, then added, "I never caught your name."

The dragon straightened suddenly, "Drake!" He chirped, "My name is Drake, my father's is Draco."

"How original." The girl mumbled, rolling her eyes a bit. "I'm Audney..." Then, thoughtfully, she asked, "Why are you able to talk? I've never met a dragon who could speak before."

Drake shifted uncomfortably, "Well, that's... That's because my father and I are the last two of our kind. Part of the reasons he brought me out here was to protect me from those who hunted us solely because of our intelligence and ability to speak."

"The last two..." She muttered to herself, then glanced up at the sky. The sunlight was fading fast, and it wouldn't be long now before darkness set in. "Well, goodnight, Drake. Perhaps we'll meet again some day." She bowed slightly to him.

"I'd like that," Drake announced, putting the fire out by splashing water onto the shore with his tail. "Goodnight, Audney."

With this, the two parted ways, and it wasn't until well into the night that Audney finally made it back home. She stepped up to the door and paused, unable to contain her curiosity as she peered up at the night sky. Sure enough, Gemini and Draco's heads were perfectly aligned. She smiled to herself and ducked into the house. Perhaps her wings weren't as badly damaged as she thought.

* * *

Yes, I took some artistic liberties. I don't know enough about constellations to know if that's actually possible or not, but I'm saying it is for the sake of the story because you know what? IT FITS. So there. Tell me what you think ;3


	5. Flying and Falling

Hiccup was pacing about the house when Audney opened the door, talking to himself. "Hey, dad, remember how there used to be two of us? Well it's just me now! I lost Audney when trying to help a downed Night Fury fly again! Funny story, huh?" He smacked a hand to his forehead, his back to Audney, who was snickering by now.

"Not bad, but you left out the part where I come home."

Hiccup wheeled around, wide-eyed, to face her. "Audney!" He threw his arms around his twin, repeating her name. "I thought I'd never see you again! Where did you go?"

"On an adventure," Audney replied with a smirk, pulling away from her brother to show him her hands, "But I'm blaming you for this."

He inspected the raw, scabby appendages and winced, "Is that from Toothless...?" He wondered as he went to get some cloth to wrap her hands in.

"Yeah, it's no big deal though... What did Gobber say about me not being there?" She asked somewhat nervously.

"I told them you were sick. They seemed to buy it, Astrid said you mentioned something about not feeling well last night, so..." Hiccup shrugged as he began to wrap her hands.

"...And the Zippleback? How did that go?"

Hiccup's face brightened, "Oh, it was awesome, I wish you saw... I scared the Zippleback back into its cage!"

Audney blinked. "Hiccup, you're about as intimidating as a newborn lamb trying to stand on its own."

He deflated a bit, but his proud grin remained, "Right, but apparently Toothless isn't the only dragon who's not a fan of eel. The Zippleback got so freaked out when it smelled the eel on me it backed off." She had to hand it to him, the boy was far more inventive than Audney herself. "Anyway, I think I've found a solution to our troubles of holding on. I made a saddle for Toothless, complete with foot pedals to hold the tailfin out," He announced proudly, "We can bring it to him tomorrow."

"You're going to saddle a dragon like a horse?" Audney had trouble picturing this, but it would certainly help keep them from being thrown off. "You're lucky dad isn't home. If he found out you'd be in some serious trouble."

Hiccup suddenly froze, "You're right... dad... He's going to kill us when he gets home." He muttered, horrified.

Audney shrugged, brushing past him, "We always seem to find a way to weasel out of it. It's Toothless I'm worried about." With this, she continued to their room, more than ready for a good night's sleep after the day's events.

The next day, as promised, Hiccup and Audeny went down to the cove with Toothless saddle. The moment Toothless saw it, he took off running, wanting nothing to do with it. "Hey!" Hiccup whined as he began chasing the dragon around the cove. Audney, on the other hand, simply sat down and laughed as she watch the game of cat and mouse.

"I told you he wasn't gonna go for it!" She called out to her brother.

"You said I was lucky dad isn't home to see! Not the same thing!" Hiccup corrected as he finally managed to get the saddle on Toothless. "Well?" He asked from the back of the dragon, "You coming?"

Audney hesitated for a moment, recalling the last time she'd ridden Toothless, "Ask me again when you know it works. I'll watch from the ground in case something goes wrong."

"Suit yourself," Hiccup rolled his eyes and, after trying several phrases to get Toothless into the air, managed to take flight. The pair raced around the cove and out over the ocean until the tail fin broke off and Hiccup went flying. Thankfully, Audney was below him, and managed to catch him, though the momentum took her down as well.

"And that's why I said to ask me again when you know it works. I'm no sttanger to your inventions. They always have kinks at first, I'd rather wait until you get all those worked out before I get up there."

That evening, the pair went to the smithy where Audney helped him adjust the saddle and make a harness with a metal clamp that would attach Hiccup to Toothless' saddle. "There. That should fix that." He glanced over at Audney, who was repairing and reinforcing the tail fin. "What made you decide to help me this time?"

Audney shrugged, "It seems a bit less insane now that I've seen it in action. Besides, girls are better at welding than boys.*"

Hiccup leaned back against the workbench, "So where'd you get off to yesterday?"

The girl shrugged, "I got thrown pretty far off Toothless. Wound up near the top of Raven Point and had a rough time getting down with my hands all raw." Naturally, she skirted around the run-in with Drake. There would be a time and place for that, she was certain.

Hiccup seemed satisfied enough by this response and dropped the subject until they were on the way home with the reconstructed saddle and tail, when Audney paused to look up to the stars. He noticed this and asked, "Something wrong?"

"Just stargazing," Audney murmured.

The boy followed her gaze to the constellation Draco, "Funny. You've never been interested in stars before."

"Mmm, things change..." She said thoughtfully, "You know, they say that the stars of the constellation Draco are made up of the souls of honorable dragons."

"Who says that?" Hiccup wondered, his eyes snapping back to his twin. The two were practically inseparable, surely he would have overheard a conversation like that.

Audney fumbled, "I don't really remember. It was a long time ago... Anyway, we should get inside before someone sees this thing." Hiccup couldn't agree more, and the two began moving again, though Hiccup's mind was still elsewhere. Where would she have heard something like that? Surely not from someone on Berk... right?

Come morning, the two went to test the new and improved harness, saddle, and tail fin. Audney, once again, refused Hiccup's offer to fly with them, and it didn't take long for them to crash, although this time, Hiccup didn't fall off of Toothless in the process. By the time Audney reached them, Toothless was writhing blissfully in a field of tall grasses. "What happened to him? Hit his head?"

"I don't think so..." Hiccup murmured, plucking a handful of the grass, "I think it's this grass..."

With a small chuckle, Audney said, "He looks like a dog that just got a new bone. It's cute."

"Not at all how one would picture a Night Fury," Hiccup agreed. "We should get to the arena before Gobber sends a search party."

"Yeah." With this, they made their way to the training arena, where the others were waiting.

"And where were you yesterday?" Gobber scolded the moment the pair walked into the ring.

"Sick," Audney replied, faking a cough, "I've been feeling a bit under the weather lately."

The man hesitated, "Maybe you should sit this one out then."

"No, I'm feeling much better after taking yesterday off," She said, rolling with it.

"Well, if you're sure..." The man released a Gronckle from its cage and the thing more or less made a beeline for Hiccup. Gobber was shouting instructions, but before much could happen, Hiccup shoved a fistful of the strange grass they'd come across earlier (that would later be known as dragon nip) in the Gronckle's face. The beast instantly calmed and went limp when the scent reached its nose.

Audney, the only one who's been at an angle to see the dragon nip, chuckled, "Like giving candy to a baby."

"Isn't it usually taking?"

"But you gave it to him."

"Ah..." They stopped their chatter as a rather shocked Gobber came over and led the Gronckle back into its cage.

As the recruits left the arena, walking home together, something highly unusual happened. Audney was shoved from her place at Hiccup's side and replaced by the other recruits, with the exception of a very agitated Astrid. "Hey, Hiccup! I've never seen a Gronckle do that before!" Fishlegs enthused.

"How'd you do that?" Tuffnut wondered.

"It was really cool," Ruffnut added.

Squirming uncomfortably, Hiccup announced, "I left my axe back in the ring," He turned and grabbed Audney's arm as he started heading back to the ring, "You guys go on ahead and I'll catch up with you."

Finally back in the cove with Toothless, Audney was raging. "I can't _believe_ them! Just shove me out of the way to get to you, who do they think they are?! I'm your sister! I loved you before you started... This." She gestured non-specifically at Hiccup and Toothless, who had just gone limp after Hiccup scratched under his chin.

"Yeah, well, Audney, things change." Hiccup mumbled, paying far more attention to Toothless than to her ranting, which didn't help the situation any.

Positively fuming by now, Audney snapped, "I don't _want_ them to change! They don't care about you at all, Hiccup, that's not _you_ out there! Those are just mind games toothless taught you! Don't you see what's happening here? You're lying to all of them, and the truth is going to come out some day, one way or another, and who do you think will stand by you when that day comes?!" Hiccup didn't respond, and Audney turned away, too angry to be near him.

By the time they got back to the arena that evening, Audney still hadn't spoken with Hiccup, and she made a point of standing as far away from him as possible, punishing him... Not that it mattered. The enraged Deadly Nadder made for Hiccup, and Astrid, determined to make her mark this time, charged at the beast with her axe. Hiccup, seeing the oncoming attack, used the same rubbing style he had on Toothless earlier to flatten the Nadder without any effort at all. Audney rolled her eyes and stormed out of the arena. Hiccup stared after her and then, for the first time, went to the cove to see Toothless without his twin.

They managed to avoid each other until the next day (of course they still slept in the same room, but Audney was fast asleep by the time Hiccup came home, as he'd gone to the smithy after his visit with Toothless.) Standing in a line before the cages, the teens wondered what their teacher had in store for them. He lifted the beam over the door of a dragon cage and announced, "Meet the Terrible Terror."

Out crawled a minute green dragon, only about the size of a house cat. It inched closer to them, and Tuffnut commented, "Ha. It's like the size of my-" He wasn't able to finish this sentence as the dragon lunged at his face and took him down. "Get it off! Get it off! Oh! I'm hurt, I am very much hurt!" He wailed.

Hiccup managed to pull a trick with light refraction he'd used on Toothless the night before- after parting ways with Audney- to distract the Terrible Terror and send him right back into his cage. Holding his nose, Tuffnut decided to rub the salt in Astrid's wounds by telling her, "Wow, he's better than you ever were."

Astrid was, understandably, infuriated. Positively seething, in fact. Hiccup approached his sister cautiously, "Are you coming?" He asked vaguely. She'd know what he meant.

Audney eyed him warily before finally nodding. No matter how angry she got with him, she couldn't (knowingly) let him go face to face with a dragon by himself. After managing to lose Astrid who had tried to see what they were up to, Audney said finally, "You could at least apologize."

"Apologize for what? Finding peaceful solutions to Viking violence?"

The girl's eyes narrowed, "No, for- ugh, forget it! Maybe I'm just being selfish. I don't even know what to think anymore." She heaved a sigh and wrapped her arms across her chest, hugging herself.

Hiccup glanced over at his twin and frowned. This kind of behavior was not like her at all, to say the least. In an attempt to be comforting, he draped an arm over her shoulder and told her, "You know, it doesn't matter what the other kids think or what happens from here... You'll always be my sister, Audney, and I'll never forget everything you've done for me, even if you are overbearing at times... It just shows you care. I... I really don't like seeing you upset like this, so, if there's anything I can do, something I'm doing wrong, just tell me, alright?"

Audney's face softened a bit, "No," She murmured, "You're just growing up too fast is all. I love my role as 'my brother's keeper,' and I guess I never stopped to think you'd grow out of it someday." She smiled sadly at him and added, "But that helps. Thank you." When they arrived at the cove, Hiccup made quick work of affixing his harness to Toothless. "Hey, Hiccup? Instead of crashing way up in the air, why don't you try tying Toothless down to a tree or something? That way you can work out the tail positions and stuff without, you know, breaking yourself."

"Hey, that's not a bad idea," Hiccup murmured, considering this, "I did bring some extra rope with me in case I needed to make the lead on my harness longer." He withdrew some rope from the satchel he'd brought along and did as Audney suggested, tying Toothless' saddle to a post and cinching it tight before attempting to ride the dragon. It took some getting used to on Toothless' part, but in no time, they were hovering just a few feet off the ground in a simulated flight pattern. Occasionally, Hiccup would yell out instructions to Audney, who was doing her best to sketch the positions of the fake tail fin and labeling them according to what Hiccup called them, matching them up with sketches of foot positions as a sort of cheat sheet, when suddenly, the rope snapped, sending both Hiccup and Toothless crashing into a tree behind them. Audney burst out laughing as she came to make sure they were alright.

"Ah, great," Hiccup mumbled, glancing down as he noticed that the loop of the connection for his harness was bent. He was stuck to Toothless. He allowed his twin to help him to his feet before he began pulling at the strap, trying to free himself. It was no good, he wasn't strong enough.

"Let me try," Audney offered, and he held his hands up in defeat, allowing her to try her hand at it. Unfortunately, it was too much for her, too. "This might be easier if we had tools," She said finally.

"Great! Where's the toolbox?" Hiccup asked sarcastically, knowing neither of them had thought that far ahead.

The girl shrugged, "Think we can make it to the smithy without being seen?"

Hiccup winced, "That sounds a bit risky."

"Got any better ideas?" When it was made apparent that Hiccup didn't have anything better to add, he and Audney made their way to the smithy. There was a lone Viking walking nearby and she whispered to Hiccup, "You go on ahead. I'll distract him." Hiccup nodded and led Toothless off to the side while Audney strolled up to the Viking casually and struck up a conversation about the weather. A bit cliche perhaps, but it got the job done. By the time she noticed Astrid was walking a bit too close to the forge for comfort, Hiccup and Toothless were already inside. After excusing herself, saying that she had something to tell Astrid, she bolted for the girl, who was nearing the stall suspiciously. It wasn't until Audney got closer that she could hear why- loud banging and the sounds of metal against metal greeted her ears. Honestly, did Hiccup have to be so loud about it?

"Hiccup?" Astrid asked before Audney could stop her, "Are you in there?"

Hiccup suddenly jumped out of the window and greeted nervously, "Astrid! Hey! Hi Astrid! Hi Astrid. Hi Astrid!" Audney smacked one hand to her forehead while the other gestured for him to stop, slicing the air across her throat. "And Audney, too! What a surprise, I didn't know you two got along so well."

Audney immediately stopped her gesturing as Astrid wheeled around to glare at her, "We don't." She growled. Apparently she thought Audney had been following her. Looking back to Hiccup, she added, "I normally don't care what people do, but you're acting weird. Well, weirder." Hiccup's harness suddenly pulled him tight against the window, lifting his feet off the ground before dragging him through the shudders altogether. Thankfully, the wood snapped back in Astrid's face, giving them just enough time to escape. Astrid opened the windows again to find nothing but an empty stall, then turned back to Audney, pointing an accusing finger at her, "Something's going on with you two, and you'd better believe I'm going to find out what."

"Good to know you care so much about my brother and I," Audney teased, "Here I thought we were universally despised." Astrid stalked off wordlessly, and, finally alone, Audney heaved a sigh of relief. Deciding it would be best to avoid the risk of Astrid following her to the cove, and that she could trust Toothless with Hiccup by now, she made her way back home and attempted to wait for her brother to return, though she wound up falling asleep before that happened.

Come morning, the pair made their way out to the cove where Toothless was ready and waiting for them. "So, what do you think? You going to give it a shot now?" Hiccup wondered as he pulled himself onto Toothless' back.

"Hmmm," Audney hesitated for a moment before shrugging, "Well, alright. I trust you, Toothless."

The dragon cooed happily as the girl rubbed the top of his head, though Hiccup folded his arms over his chest, "Oh, you don't trust me?" He asked, trying to sound offended. Audney gave no response as she rather ungracefully crawled onto the saddle behind Hiccup. He made a mental note to get back at her for that before they took off. It wasn't long before the three were soaring well above the clouds, the ground receding with each beat of Toothless' wings. Hiccup pulled out the cheat sheet Audney had made him earlier and examined it, "Here we go. Here we go... position three- no, four."

"Do you even know?! And would you keep your eyes on the sky?!" Audney whimpered, clinging to Hiccup tightly.

"Yeah, yeah, don't worry, I got this," Hiccup assured her as they began to slowly arc down toward the ocean. In spite of her anxiety, Audney couldn't help but admire the view. Last time she'd "flown" on a dragon, she'd been too busy trying to teach the thing how to fly to admire the scenery. So far, Hiccup was doing pretty well keeping up with Toothless' true tail fin's fluctuations... So now, it was time to get Audney back for her earlier comment. He found his target, a natural stone arch that rose high above the sea. "Alright, it's go time. It's go time."

Audney, who had finally begun to relax, had let go of Hiccup in favor of leaning back on the saddle, watching the prosthetic tail fin move with the real one. "You really did a nice job here, Hiccup," She said softly, too busy looking back to see what was ahead.

Hiccup didn't seem to hear her as they dove toward the archway. "Come on. Come on buddy, come on buddy!" They made it through without a scratch. "Yeah! Yes, it worked! He cheered.

Audney, who was now white as a ghost, turned to glare at her twin, "You little-" Before she could finish this insult, they smacked into a sea stack because Hiccup was too distracted to keep up with the turns.

"Sorry," He muttered, though they soon slammed into another pillar, eliciting a growl from Toothless.

"My fault," Hiccup admitted. Toothless smacked him with his ear plate, causing Audney to chuckle and forget about how Hiccup could have killed them with that stunt he pulled. "Yeah, yeah, I'm on it." Hiccup mumbled, looking to the cheat sheet for guidance. "Position four- no, three." Suddenly, they were climbing upwards once more.

Audney, having fun again, threw her arms back and whooped, looking down at the receding land mass called Berk with a devilish grin. "This is so cool!"

Hiccup turned to see what Audney was looking at and swallowed, tightening his grip on Toothless. He seemed to calm down soon enough though, as he began cheering right along with Audney, "Yeah! Go baby! Yes! Oh, this is amazing! The wind in my-" Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the cheat sheet tear loose of its clamp. "CHEAT SHEET! STOP!" He reached frantically for the paper, shouting, "No!"

"The wind in your cheat sheet?" Audney snickered, turning back to look at her twin, who was desperately grabbing at the cheat sheet. Finally, he managed to snag it from the air, but Toothless, who thought he was being spoken to, came to a sudden halt, almost as if he were playing freeze-tag. For a moment, the twins felt weightless before they began free-falling, Hiccup's harness strap having floated free from Toothless' saddle.

"Oh gods! Oh no!" Hiccup uttered, trying to get to Toothless, who was panicking. He seemed to know that without a rider, he was going nowhere fast. "Alright, okay. You just kinda gotta angle yourself. No, no... Come back down towards. Come back down-" Hiccup was smacked by a flailing wing. He glanced over his shoulder to look for Audney, but she seemed to have disappeared. Deciding that he'd need Toothless to find her anyway, he redoubled his efforts and finally managed to lock himself onto Toothless' saddle, just in time to pull the dragon up out of his dive.

Audney, however, had not disappeared, rather, she had been rescued by someone entirely unexpected. When it was clear to her that she wouldn't be able to reach Hiccup in time, she had looked to the sky, trying to calm herself. She could at least have a peaceful death. Where had that constellation, Draco been? She tried to recall its position in the night sky when suddenly she found herself breathless. Gasping for air, but still very much alive, she turned over to find herself on the back of a dragon. "DRAKE?!" She shrieked, elated to see the dragon given her current situation.

"Do you fall to certain death often?" The dragon wondered, glancing over his shoulder at her with a small smirk, "Looks like that human you were with is going to be fine, too."

"How did you find me?!" Audney demanded, calming down some but still on a bit of an adrenaline rush.

"I was bored," Drake admitted, "I was trying to see if I could figure out where Draco is during the day when I saw you falling out of the sky."

Deciding that now wasn't the time, she asked, "Hey, can you take us back that way? I want to make sure they're okay."

Drake hesitated, "I thought you said humans would try to kill me."

"Most would, yes." Audney agreed, "But not the two of us. He's my brother." She paused thoughtfully before adding, "My _twin_ brother." This time, Drake nearly began to freefall as Toothless had moments earlier, causing Audney to tightly wind her arms around his neck.

"Why didn't you _TELL_ me that?!" Drake barked, slowly bringing rhythm back to his flight pattern.

"I promise we'll talk about this later if you'll just bring me to him. I'm worried." Drake grumbled, but obliged. It didn't take long to find Hiccup, scanning the ocean's surface for any signs of his sister. Toothless, who noticed her first, whacked Hiccup with his earplate to get his attention.

"Ow! What was that for?" Hiccup complained, but then followed the dragon's gaze. "AUDNEY!" He almost forgot he was riding Toothless and tried to move to embrace her, accidentally shifting Toothless' prosthetic and causing them to nosedive. Embarassed, he sat down and righted the Night Fury, who glared back at him. "Sorry bud," Turning back to Audney, he asked, "What happened?! And... what's with the dragon."

The girl shrugged, "Long story. I have a lot of explaining to do... To both of you," She shot an apologetic look at Drake, "But he's still new to this flying business, and so are we, so let's just get somewhere we can talk without having to worry about flying... or falling. Follow us." Then, to Drake, she said, "Take us somewhere you're comfortable landing. I'd really rather not have any more brain-jarring than necessary." With a silent nod, the dragon turned and led Hiccup and Toothless back to Raven point, where he and Audney first met.

* * *

Funfact- that bit about girls being better at welding than boys is actually not meant as a bash, rather a truth. Girls are better at multitasking (holding the metal while affixing pieces and making sure the oxyacetylene (Yes, I know my welding gear... some of it. MIG welding is a bitch, also wouldn't have been invented at this time. Of course, right now they're just using burning wood, but you know what I mean.) doesn't go through the metal. That's not to say that guys can't learn, it's just, if you give a man and woman a torch and say "ready set go" the woman is probably going to have more natural talent.


	6. Father of Mine

It took a few u-turns before Drake managed to land on the cliff outcropping, where Toothless and Hiccup had already touched down. Audney looked over at her twin who was seated comfortably on a familiar, albeit larger, rock formation. Glancing at Drake, she pointed and asked, "Is that-?"

"Yeah." Drake cut her off. "You're getting good at this."

"Rocks that sneeze at you are generally more memorable than ones that don't." Audney murmured with a small grin before turning back to Hiccup, "You might want to move," She suggested, "I think that's his nose you're sitting on. He probably doesn't want to smell your butt."

"He?" Hiccup looked down at the rock he was sitting on. "It's just a rock, Audney."

"No, actually, that's my father." Drake corrected, "Dad, it's okay. This is the girl I told you about, the one that taught me to fly." He continued, nudging Audney forward, "And that's, apparently, her _twin_ brother."

Hiccup tumbled off of the much larger dragon when it lifted its head, and might have fallen off the cliff had Toothless not used his tail to prevent it. As the beast reared up, Hiccup couldn't help but stare. "Big dragon..." He mumbled under his breath.

Even Audney, who had known that Drake was just a hatchling, was stunned to silence for a moment before stepping forward and saying, "I think a proper introduction is in order. My name is Audney Audacious Haddock, and this is my twin brother, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, and the dragon, we call Toothless. It doesn't seem like he can talk."

That was when Hiccup realized, the dragon had been talking earlier! "You can _talk?_"

"Interesting names." The elder dragon murmured, "I am Draco, named after the constellation, and this is my son, Drake. We are the last two of our kind, and, as you say, we can talk. Where we came from, humans hunted us partially because they thought us to be too intelligent, as we could speak the same language."

"Here it's more of a life or death situation. The dragons raid our village and steal our food, if we didn't fight back. we'd either be killed by them or run out of food." Hiccup explained, seeming to have come to terms with the fact that the dragons could speak. After all that had happened over the past few days, something like that didn't phase him for long.

"You'd think we'd just move, maybe go somewhere with less threat of freezing to death, but Vikings have stubbornness issues." Audney provided, taking a seat on a small boulder that she was fairly certain was not another dragon in disguise. They were the last two, right?

Draco chuckled a bit, "So do we. That's what got so many of our kind killed, in the end." He met the girl's gaze, seeming to size her up.

Shifting uncomfortably when the great dragon's eyes turned to him, Hiccup asked, "So why did you move?" After a debriefing from Draco about their situation, Hiccup looked to Audney, "So that's why you were acting weird the other night! You were checking the positions of Draco and Gemini!"

"I was curious," Audney admitted sheepishly, "The day we first tried fitting Toothless with his fake tail fin, I landed up here. I got so angry I punched what I thought was a rock, but it was actually Drake's nose. He sneezed at me and asked why I kept hitting him, giving away his disguise." She smiled slightly at the memory, "I got so freaked out I fell right off the edge of the cliff. He came down after me, but it was his first time flying, so I had to teach him how to fly- and land. Seems like he's had some practice since then."

"Yeah, my dad's been teaching me since the day I met you. That night, Gemini and Draco saw eye to eye, just like in the prophecy." Drake explained.

"I saw," Audney said with a small smile, "I looked at them on the way home." She paused a moment, then glanced out at the sea, "Speaking of home, it looks like father made it back."

Hiccup followed her gaze to the lone battered ship in the harbor. "Weren't there others?" He wondered aloud, knowing that, in the past, there was generally a fleet of ships that went out to hunt for the nest.

"Judging by the looks of that one, I'd say the others didn't make it." The girl said grimly, heaving a sigh, "Just what he needs to cheer him up, more casualties. Going to make breaking the news about Toothless that much easier."

"Umm?" Drake ventured. He was curious as to what they were talking about, but didn't really want to interrupt.

Apparently, Draco didn't have any moral qualms about interrupting, as he asked, "Where did they go?"

"In search of the dragon's nest," Audney replied, returning her attention to the two, "Our father is the chief of this tribe, the Hairy Hooligans."

Drake couldn't help but snicker, "Hairy Hooligans?"

"Aren't Vikings charming?" She agreed, smirking a bit, "I really don't know how any of the other tribes take us seriously. Not that their names are much better. Anyway, he went on a journey to find and destroy the dragon's nest. We've never found it, only lost ships, in the past... Doesn't look like they fared any better this time around."

Draco tensed a bit at this, "Your father is a dragon killer?"

"No, our father is the _chief_ dragon killer." Hiccup corrected. "They say he popped the head off a Gronckle when he was a baby."

"So you can see why our friendship with Toothless and the two of you is so scandalous," Audney concurred, "This whole time, he's been gone, but if he finds out..." She lowered her gaze and drew her knees to her chest, "We'll have to be more careful from here on out."

"We should get Toothless back before someone notices we're missing." Hiccup mumbled, getting to his feet. When Audney hesitated, looking back at the other dragons, Hiccup offered, "You can come with us, if you want. It's easier to get to the cove on foot than it is to get up here, and nobody ever goes down there... I'm sure Toothless wouldn't mind the company, nor would Audney. She doesn't like riding Toothless much."

"Only because every time I do I get thrown off!" Audney protested, "You're just not a very good driver!"

Hiccup rolled his eyes, flashing her a lopsided grin, "But I got a downed dragon to fly again."

"You did." She noted, "Doesn't mean you fly any better."

Drake looked to his father pleadingly. Truth be told, he was rather bored being stuck up here, just the two of them, and it would be nice to see Hiccup and Audney again. Draco considered the idea for what felt like an eternity before finally getting to his feet, "We'll come along for now, but you understand it can't stay this way forever?"

"Unfortunately," Hiccup muttered, "The truth is going to come out at some point, I just have to come up with a plan before then." Though it was unnoticeable to everyone but Drake, who had been watching her, Audney blinked at Hiccup's use of 'I' instead of 'we,' and a disappointed look flashed across her face for a fraction of a second before it returned to a certain stoic expression.

The young dragon, in an attempt to cheer her up, nudged her and asked, "Is there water to land in where we're going?"

"Why, are you planning on drowning again? If so, you better start begging for me to save you before your head goes under." The girl teased, lightening up a bit, "But there is water, a natural spring. It's really pretty. Toothless really couldn't have picked a better place to crash."

"Crash?" Drake questioned, "How did you two meet Toothless, anyway? And that tail fin..."

"Hiccup made it." Audney announced, full of pride in her brother, "He lost his real one in that incident. See, we weren't always on friendly terms with dragons. We only saw our side, the side of the Vikings, kill first, ask questions later. Of course, we weren't allowed to do any killing ourselves because we're smaller and weaker than the other Vikings, we generally just got in the way when we went outside... But that night, Hiccup was determined to take down the one type of dragon that we didn't know anything about, that no one had ever seen before and lived to tell the tale, let alone kill. Hiccup created this contraption, a bola launcher, and used that to shoot him down."

"Is it really a good idea to be saying this in front of Toothless?" Hiccup questioned, glancing back at the dragon who seemed to be listening intently.

Audney shrugged, "You've already stood over him with a dagger in hand and told him how you planned to kill him. I hardly think the fact that you're the one that shot him down is on his radar at this point." She said pointedly before returning her attention to Drake and Draco, "He tried to kill Toothless, but he couldn't... As it turned out, at some point, Toothless lost his natural tail fin, maybe when the bola struck him, maybe from struggling against the ropes, it's hard to say... But that's how we met him."

"Why would you do that? Give your enemy the ability to fly again?" Draco wondered.

Hiccup fidgeted, grabbing his arm nervously, "I felt bad... I mean, it was my fault, and he could have killed me when I cut him free. Besides, he can't fly without a rider."

"A rider that knows what they're doing." Audney corrected.

"Or has a cheat sheet," Hiccup countered.

"Like the one you so brilliantly lost earlier? The one that almost got us killed?" She huffed, turning away from him, pretending to be more angry than she really was. Truthfully, she knew that if she hadn't fallen off of Toothless, she might never have seen Drake again, and she was growing rather fond of the young dragon. A unique bond is formed when you teach someone how to do something for the first time, especially when it's something you could never do yourself. Like flying. "Anyway, we should get going. You and Toothless lead the way." She invited herself to climb onto Drake's back, and he didn't protest... much.

"You complain about flying on a dragon that throws you off, but not about one that nearly drowned you?"

Audney playfully punched his shoulder, "You know, I think I might like you better if you couldn't talk, like Toothless."

"The feeling is mutual," The young dragon joked, taking a step back to allow Toothless, who already had Hiccup on his back, to spread his wings. When the group was in the air, Drake commented softly, "You really should have drowned when you were trying to pull me up, if you're as weak as you claim."

"Are you trying to make me agree with the people that hunted your kind for their intelligence?" Audney asked, her voice low as she tried to make a joke out of something she took quite seriously.

Drake faltered, sensing he had just said something that crossed the line. Trying to fix this mistake, he told her, "I'm just trying to understand you."

The girl inhaled, trying to calm herself. How could she be mad at that? "I love my brother. He's... He's my best friend, and I'd do anything for him." She mumbled, "That's me. That's all there is to me."

"I don't believe that." Drake announced. A silence fell between them until they finally came to land in the cove. Or, well, tried to. Being new to flight, Drake flailed, overestimating the size of the enclosed area, and went hurtling into the forest.

"Seriously?! I thought you said you practiced!" Audney whined, holding on to the young dragon for dear life.

"Still not so good with the landing thing," Drake admitted sheepishly. This time, they didn't land at all, rather crashed into a tree, and Audney went flying form the force of it.

Hiccup, Draco, and Toothless were soon on the scene. "Drake! What happened?" The boy wondered, approaching the dragon who was slowly getting to his feet. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, but-" He glanced over his shoulder to be certain that Audney was gone before turning to search for her. "Audney!" He called, but there was no response. After searching for nearly an hour, they found the girl sprawled out on the beach, motionless.

"Audney!" Hiccup raced to his sister and knelt at her side, checking for signs of life. When he saw that she was still breathing, he heaved a sigh of relief, "She's alive. Just unconscious."

"Is that common for her? This is the second time now I've seen her unconscious." Drake commented, moving to lie beside her. Glancing around, he noticed the pile of firewood that he'd splashed out the night he met her. "This is where we landed before." He murmured.

The boy sighed, "Well, we should be safe here, but I don't think it's a good idea to move her. Dad can wait. I'll stay here so we can fly away if we hear something, but I doubt they'll come looking for us. I don't know why he'd notice us missing now. He never cared before."

Draco, being a father himself, asked, "Doesn't he worry about you?"

"If he does, he doesn't show it very well. I mean, he takes care of us and makes us stay inside during dragon raids, but... To him, we're just major disappointments. Especially me, I mean, I'm supposed to be the chief someday, and here I can hardly even lift an axe." Hiccup moved to light the pile of scorched firewood when Toothless decided to do it for him. "Thanks, bud," He said softly. Suddenly, he remembered something. "Actually, I'll be right back. I forgot Audney and I brought some fish down to the cove to have for lunch with Toothless. We're right nearby anyway, so I won't be far. It's just going to take a while to haul the basket up out of the cove."

The most experienced flier offered, "I can carry it for you. It would be best if you stayed with Audney in case she wakes up."

Hiccup considered this for a moment before nodding and explaining where the basket was. When Draco left, he got a rather unexpected question from Drake. "Do you care for Audney?"

Taken aback by the peculiar question, Hiccup stammered, "Of- of course I do! I mean, she's my twin sister, of course I love her. She's always looking out for me and I know I can always count on her."

"But what about her?" Drake pressed, a bit too young and innocent to understand how offensive the query was. "Who does she count on?"

The boy opened his mouth to respond, then closed it suddenly. The natural response should have been 'me, of course,' but Audney was never really like that. She was always more independent than he was, she rarely came to him with problems, and as far as she knew, she didn't really bother anyone else with them, either. "I don't know." He admitted finally, "Herself, I guess. She just... When she has a problem, she faces it herself. Nobody's really even tried to help her..." He paused, feeling rather guilty about this, "Myself included... I mean, yeah, I worry about her and I go looking for her when she's missing, but she doesn't depend upon me to find her, she brings it upon herself to find a way back..." Thinking about it on a somewhat deeper level, he mumbled, "I wonder if I'm holding her back."

Realizing now that he'd said too much again, Drake assured him, "Even if that's the case, Audney seems happy with the way things are, doesn't she? She likes being there for you... I think that's enough for her, to know she's needed."

Hiccup couldn't really argue with that logic, but it still bothered him as he thought back to all the times he'd needed Audney's help, all the times he'd just waited for her to rescue him... All the times he hadn't done the same because she fought her way through. Eventually, Draco returned with the basket of fish and rather ungracefully dumped it over. "These baskets are such a peculiar shape. They can't be held sideways like a barrel or the contents will all fall out." Draco commented, "And it's too soft to hold between your teeth or claws, it would just tear."

"I'll point that out the next time we talk about dragons being on our side." Hiccup muttered dryly before making his way over to the basket and dividing the fish. Two small piles for himself and Audney, and nice heaps for the dragons. Of course, they were smaller than what Toothless would usually get, but he'd just have to share for now.

Shortly after, Audney awoke, rubbing the back of her head, and immediately took her revenge on Drake, stealing one of his fish. "Hey!" Drake complained, though he knew he should really be more grateful for the free meal. "Eat your own," He gestured with his head to her pile of fish.

"Oh, I'm not eating this." She promptly smacked him across the muzzle with the cod and let it drop back into the pile, "Next time, include the important details! We could have just landed on the beach and walked, but noooo." She rolled her eyes and turned her attention to her own pile of fish, forcing one onto a stick that Hiccup had apparently gathered and left for her to use and holding it over the fire.

"And she's back," Hiccup smiled a bit, glad to see that she was alright. He felt something plop into his lap and grimaced. A regurgitated fish head- delicious. Turning to Toothless, who had given him the morsel, he said, gesturing to his own fish-on-a-stick "Uh... no, thanks. I'm good."

Apparently, several Terrible Terrors noticed that there was easy food to be found and came swooping onto the scene out of nowhere, much like seagulls only less noisy, though they did hiss and nip at one another as they inched closer to Toothless' heap of fish. One of the Terrors snatched up the fish head and attempted a hasty retreat, but the other clearly intended to fight for it and tried to steal it. They began to attack one another, blasting flames in a rather amusing fashion.

"King of like how all the men in the village used to fight over the biggest slice of mutton until it was decided that the biggest portion belonged to the chief," Audney commented, watching the two.

"I was thinking they're more like toddlers fighting over a toy," Hiccup added thoughtfully. Suddenly, he noticed movement in Toothless' pile of fish and turned to see what it was, which naturally drew everyone else's attention as well. A Terrible Terror was attempting to sneak away with one of the fish. Toothless snapped at the fish, and, after playing a brief game of tug-of-war, it disappeared into his mouth. He proudly swallowed, teasing the little Terror. The now seriously agitated dragon hissed at Toothless an opened his mouth as he built up gas to make a flame, when, suddenly, Toothless fired a tiny blast into the Terror's mouth, causing him to explode on the inside.

Hacking up smoke, the tiny dragon limped off, looking rather ill. Hiccup chuckled a bit at the dragon's misfortune. "Not so fireproof on the inside, are you?" He asked, throwing his own freshly cooked fish to the dragon. "Here you go." It gobbled up the fish happily, then curled up against Hiccup, apparently to sleep after his hard earned meal. Hiccup was stunned, "Everything we know about you guys is wrong..." He murmured.

"Ya didn't realize that when Toothless let you saddle him like a horse and ride him?" Audney challenged, but was ignored. Cautiously, Hiccup moved his hand to gently pet the sleepy dragon, who purred happily at his touch.

"This is incredible," He managed.

"Not as incredible as Drake diving after me to save me when he didn't even know me. Or know how to fly." Audney pointed out, almost defensively. "Anyway, we should get back home if you're done learning new tricks for the arena for today. Gobber might start to wonder, which might make dad start to wonder." Hiccup nodded slightly at this and doused the fire. "Alright, well, you can probably walk back to the cove. Getting down _should_ be the easy part. Drake, don't even try to be graceful, just fall down there and you'll be fine."

"So much faith." The young dragon scoffed, as if offended.

Rolling her eyes, she added, "We'll see you tomorrow, then. Provided our father hasn't killed us."

"That's a big if." Hiccup muttered, "If he finds out..."

"You mean when." Audney corrected, shaking her head a bit. "For now, let's just get back, maybe see if you can think up some improvements for Toothless' tail?"

"Right." With this, the pair left the dragons in silence. Rather than go directly home, they made their way to the smithy, where Hiccup had most of his drawings of Toothless and the prosthetic fin. He sighed and sat down on the bench, resting his head on the table and playing with a stick of charcoal. "What are we gonna do, Audney?" He groaned rather pathetically, "I know things can't stay like they are, but if I say anything..." He heaved a sigh and muttered under his breath, "If only I'd killed Toothless when I found him."

Audney winced at the thought, "If you'd killed him, we wouldn't be facing these challenges, true," She admitted, "But... If you hadn't, we'd never have met Drake and Draco. If what they're saying about the prophecy is true-"

"Don't give me that! Prophecies. If those are true, shouldn't I be a great Viking leader like my father?" He challenged, aggravated.

"You're not chief yet," The girl pointed out, "And I think you'll make a fine leader."

"Well that's one person on this entire island." Hiccup grumbled. A loaded silence fell between them until suddenly, Stoick arrived in the doorway. Hiccup got up and tried to cover his drawings, "Dad! You're back!"

"Daddy!" Audney ran to her father and hugged him. Of course, it was a very one-sided hug, and there wasn't much emotion from her father, but at least she tried, "Welcome home!"

Hiccup awkwardly posed himself to cover as much as he could, "Gobber's not here, so..."

"I know. I came looking for you." Stoick deadpanned.

Audney retracted her arms and took a few steps back, ready to defend her brother. If Stoick was looking for Hiccup, it couldn't possibly be for any good reasons. "You... did?" Hiccup asked, rather frightened himself.

Stoick stood over them intimidatingly, "You've been keeping secrets."

Hiccup's legs gave out from under him and her dragged most everything on the table down with him as he slid down. "I... have?"

"Just how long did you think you could hide it from me?" Stoick challenged. Audney bristled and rested her hand on an axe that just so happened to be standing against the wall behind her, waiting to be sharpened.

Hiccup fumbled, "I don't know what you're..."

"Nothing happens on this island without me hearing about it." Stoick added firmly.

"Oh?" Hiccup squeaked as Audney tightened her grip around the weapon. Yes, she was prepared to slay her own father in defense of her brother. If it came to that...

"So... Let's talk about that dragon."

* * *

Sorry for the delay, I was feeling a bit under the weather and... Yeah. Stuff happens. Anyway, here we go, hope you like it~ Let me just say I had a LOT of trouble coming up with the scene of moving from Raven's Point to the beach, because that beach scene is not something that can be removed, it's crucial to the end of the movie and resolution of the conflict... But I think I managed. By abusing Drake more. I feel bad because I feel like Draco never says anything, but it's like.. I dunno. I think if I put anything more in it would seem forced? Review and tell me what you think!


	7. The Space Between

The twins paled and met one another's gazes nervously before Hiccup stammered, "Oh gods. Dad, I'm so sorry, I was going to tell you, I just didn't know how to-" Suddenly, something happened that both came as a shock to both of the teens. Stoick burst into a great, booming laughter that seemed to shake the whole stall. "You're not... upset?" Hiccup asked incredulously.

"What?! I was hoping for this!" Stoick cheered.

"Uh... you were?" Hiccup tried.

"Either I'm missing something, or he's completely lost it," Audney whispered into her brother's ear.

Stoick, who didn't seem to hear this, continued, "And believe me, it only gets better! Just wait 'till you spill a Nadder's guts for the first time!"

Hiccup's face fell as he turned slightly to murmur to Audney under his breath, "I think we were both missing something."

"Found it now though." Audney confirmed.

Too enthralled in his own speech and pride to notice the two whispering to each other, their father added, "And mount your first Gronckle head on a spear! What a feeling!" He smacked Hiccup on the shoulder through his jovial laughter, accidentally sending him into the wall. "You really had me going there, son. All those years of the worst Viking Berk has ever seen! Odin, it was rough. I almost gave up on you!"

"It almost would have been better if he were actually talking about Toothless." Audney decided finally, helping her brother, who was now grimacing, to his feet as their father continued his rant.

"And all the while, you were holding out on me! Thor almighty!" The large man suddenly grabbed a stool that seemed much too small to support him and sat on it. "Ahh, with you doing so well in the ring, we finally have something to talk about." There was a pause, and Hiccup looked to Audney for help, but she was more or less at a loss for words. Could this get any worse? Stoick adjusted himself on his stool and cleared his throat, "Oh, I... Brought you something." He pulled out a horned helmet and handed it to his son. "To keep you safe in the ring."

"Wow, thanks..." Hiccup managed, grateful for the distraction as he looked his gift over. Audney, feeling rather put-out, turned to peer out the window and nearly toppled over with shock.

Deciding she wouldn't be missed during this touching father/son moment, she hoisted herself out the window and fell ungracefully to the ground outside as she heard Stoick say, "Your mother would've wanted you to have it. It's half of her breast plate." He tapped his own helmet with an uncharacteristically warm smile, "Matching set. Keeps her close, y'know?"

Audney, who had seen both helmets, raised an eyebrow at this. Of course, her memory of her mother was foggy, but had her breasts really been so horribly mismatched? Shuddering as horrible mental images flooded her brain, she snuck over to a large boulder that she was highly certain had not been there before and sat down. "It's risky for you to come out all this way, you know." She said, keeping her voice low to avoid attracting any unwanted attention.

"I got bored." Drake admitted lamely, "And I wanted to practice flying into the cove, but then I saw you and Hiccup, so I thought I'd follow you."

"Probably not the best idea," Audney murmured with a sigh, resting her head against the dragon's broad back.

"Why didn't your father bring anything for you?" The young dragon wondered aloud.

Audney heaved a sigh, "I'm not important," She replied simply, "Hiccup's doing well in the ring using tricks he learns from Toothless, and me? I'm just an attachment. The sister of the prodigal son and chronic liar."

"You're more than that!" Drake protested, though he failed to give any examples of this.

"Not to my father, I'm not," Audney corrected, then shifted uncomfortably, "Shh, the door just opened."

Sure enough, not long after, Stoick was seen making his way back to the house, and, a while later, Hiccup's voice called tentatively, "Audney?" Then, "Weird. She was here just a minute ago." Then he seemed to discover the window and peered out of it to see his sister leaning against a "rock." "There you are!" He heaved himself through the window rather than using the door like a normal person as if he were afraid that he might lose sight of her again. "Why'd you run out on me back there?" He asked, approaching her.

"What could I have done? The prodigal, dragon-slaying son can surely handle his own father without his lowly, limp-armed sister to help." Audney grumbled, getting to her feet as Hiccup visibly winced. Just when he thought things couldn't get worse, Audney was mad at him again. "You'd better fix this, Hiccup, and fast. If you don't tell them, I will." She warned before storming off, leaving Hiccup and Drake in stunned silence. After taking a moment to calm down, Hiccup headed back home himself, more than ready to put this day to rest, in hopes that tomorrow would be better.

The following afternoon, the teens were all gathered in the arena, this time with a proud Stoick watching over them. A Gronckle was loose, and it was more or less hovering around between Hiccup and Audney, the ever-vigilant bodyguard. It wasn't long before Hiccup got the beast on the ground, just as Astrid came charging out to attack. "Arrrghhh! No! No!" Astrid wailed, throwing a bit of a temper tantrum.

Although she was mad at Hiccup for not letting the truth come out as she had instructed, Audney couldn't help herself. She saw a chance to cut Astrid down, she took it. Her rivalry with Astrid was not that unlike Snotlout and Hiccup's. She and Astrid were Berk's two finest female Viking teens. Although Audney didn't appear to be all that strong, she was still far more intelligent than Ruffnut, which wasn't saying too much, but the improvement gave her second best and she took it in stride, often picking at Astrid... Of course, the fact that her beloved brother had a major crush on Astrid didn't help the situation. So when she saw Astrid freaking out, she just had to say, "You snooze you lose. Looks like you'll just never be good enough."

Hiccup grimaced at Audney's rubbing salt in Astrid's wounds, but tried to shrug nonchalantly regardless.

"NO NO! SON OF A HALFTROLL RAT EATING MUNGE BUCKET!" Astrid fumed, but was interrupted by loud noise from the crowd above. On further inspection, the cause of the noise was Gothi, the village elder, tapping her staff against the bars of the ring.

"Wait, wait!" Stoick demanded, seeing this movement.

"So, later!" Hiccup attempted to get away before the Elder could make a decision, but both Gobber and a vengeful Audney grabbed him.

"Not so fast." Gobber chided.

Audney, with a Cheshire grin from ear to ear, purred, "That's right, Hiccup. Don't you want to see if you've earned the _honor_ of slaughtering your first Monstrous Nightmare before Daddy Dearest?"

Hiccup gulped back a response to that and excused, "I'm kinda late for-"

"What? Late for _what,_ exactly?" Astrid demanded, quivering with anger.

Stoick made a calming gesture with his arms as he boomed, "Okay, quiet down. The elder has decided."

Tickled pink by the fact that he'd trained one of his students to the elder's liking once more, Gobber stood behind Astrid and Hiccup as Audney took several steps back, knowing she had no place in this. He pointed to Astrid first, but the elder shook her head 'no,' much to everyone's amazement. Gobber blinked for a moment, trying to comprehend what the elder was implying. He pointed to Hiccup, just to be sure. The elder nodded affirmatively, and the crowd cheered. If looks could kill, the one Astrid was directing at Hiccup would probably have obliterated the entirety of Berk's population.

"You've done it! You've done it, Hiccup! You get to kill the dragon!" Gobber beamed proudly after recollecting his thoughts.

Audney slunk up beside Hiccup and threw her arms around his neck, "I always knew you'd do it! Just the terrible, murderous Viking Berk needs!" She encouraged with false enthusiasm, each word having a hidden metaphorical knife that twisted and burned Hiccup's pride. At least, that was her intention. She backed off and allowed everyone else to ram those weapons in deeper as she took off for the cove, wanting nothing to do with the boy.

"Can you believe him?!" She snapped to Drake, Draco, and Toothless, who were more or less gathered around her, pinned between her and a wall with no room to spread their wings to escape her mad rantings, "So now he's going to have to- TOOTHLESS! Are you listening? This applies to you, too, you know!" The girl shot a glare at the Night Fury, who was looking off into the distance.

"No, he hears Hiccup's voice." Draco commented.

Inhaling deeply to stop the blood from ringing in her ears, Audney listened closely and could hear Hiccup say, "-leaving. We're leaving. Let's pack up. Looks like you and me are taking a little vacation. Forever." There was a thump that Audney assumed to be the basket of fish he usually brought for the dragon being dropped on the ground. Toothless moved to greet him, but Audney held out a hand to stop him.

"He doesn't deserve it," She growled lowly.

The Night Fury paused and nuzzled his head against her open palm, trying to soothe her as Hiccup continued to talk to himself. "Oh, man..."

Suddenly, the unmistakable sound of a weapon being sharpened. Having helped around the smithy most of her life, Audney would recognize that noise anywhere. Apparently, the dragons did, too, as they were all looking at her expectantly. "Stealth mode." She commanded, and crept up into some shrubbery closer to Hiccup, where she could now see Astrid sharpening her axe, and a panicked Hiccup.

"Aggh! What the-" Hiccup was clearly caught off guard by the sight of Astrid and took a step back, trying to compose himself for her, "What are you doing here?"

The girl hopped off of the rock and stepped closer to Hiccup, backing him down as she threateningly spun her axe. Hiccup's eyes were darting around nervously, trying to locate Toothless, who was about to leap out to the rescue when Audney rested a hand on his nose. "His mess." She muttered, "He made his bed, now he can lay in it."

"I want to know what's going on. No one just gets as good as you do. Especially you. Start talking! Are you training with someone?" Astrid demanded.

"Uh, training?" Hiccup fumbled, trying to think up an excuse.

Astrid grabbed his peculiar harness "It better not involve... this." She looked down at the thing, somewhat repulsed by it.

Suddenly, Hiccup had been handed his excuse by Astrid, "I know this looks really bad, but you see... this is, uh..."

"I said no, Toothless!" Audney hissed, pouncing on the dragon's head, accidentally knocking into a branch in the process, causing a rustle. "Crud."

Astrid dropped Hiccup to the ground to investigate the sound, but the boy quickly rebounded, "You're right! You're right!" He announced, walking backwards as he struggled to keep up with her, "I'm through with the lies. I've been making... outfits. So you got me. It's time everyone knew. Drag me back. Go ahead. Here we go." He put her hand on his harness, trying to force her to drag him back to the village, but Astrid instead bent his hand backwards and drove him to the ground. "AAAAAUGH! Why would you DO that?!"

"That's for the lies." Astrid replied, still cool as a cucumber as she dropped the hilt of her axe on his crotch, "And _THAT's_ for everything else."

Hiccup yelped in response, and Audney flinched, giving Toothless just enough room to break away from her, growling. "Oooh no. No, no, Toothless, don't do it buddy," She whimpered, but she knew it was too late.

Astrid glanced in their direction to see Toothless jump clear of the bushes, moving closer as he snarled. "Oh man." Hiccup mumbled as Astrid pinned him to the ground.

"Get down! Run! Run!" She commanded, withdrawing her axe, ready to take Toothless down.

"No!" Hiccup and Audney shrieked almost in unison. Hiccup knocked Astrid's axe out of reach as Audney skidded to a stop between Astrid and Toothless. Hiccup whirled around to face the irate Night Fury, "No. It's okay! It's okay... She's a friend."

Toothless seemed to disagree, snorting to show his disgust. "Yeah, I don't care for her much either." Audney assured the dragon, "But I don't get to kill her, either."

Astrid was frozen in a combination of terror and confusion, as Toothless looked from Astrid to Hiccup, equally confused. "You just scared him." Hiccup said finally, stroking the dragon's head soothingly.

"_I_ scared _him?!_" Astrid seemed unconvinced. Hiccup and Audney gestured for her to quiet down before they were discovered, and Astrid obeyed, asking in an intense whisper, "Who is him?"

"Astrid, Toothless. Toothless, Astrid." Hiccup introduced. Unfortunately for him, Astrid backed away, eyeing the boy and his dragon with pure disgust before turning to run for the village. "We're dead." Hiccup announced. Toothless, apparently satisfied, turned to leave, and Hiccup wheeled around to face him, "Where do you think you're going?!" He demanded angrily.

Drake and Draco, seeing that Astrid was gone, came out of the foliage to stand beside Audney as she watched her brother go after Toothless. "So... What now?" Drake asked, looking to the girl.

Audney sighed and hung her head, "I guess Hiccup's probably going to go after her..." She paused before adding, "I'm mad at him, but I don't trust her. I'll have to follow them."

"You mean we, right?" Drake challenged playfully, nudging her hand.

This brought a smile to Audney's lips, "You know just what to say, don't you?" She rubbed the top of the young dragon's head before looking to Draco, "Do you mind if I borrow him for a while?"

"I'll come along," Draco said after a moment of thought, "In case that brother of yours gets into any more trouble."

"Thank you both... Really," The girl murmured, rather touched by the thought that both of them would go into harm's way to help her and her brother.

"No need to thank us." Draco assured her, "We dragons generally follow the Old Code." When the girl tipped her head curiously, he continued, "A knight is sworn to valor. His heart knows only virtue. His blade defends the helpless. His might upholds the weak. His word speaks only truth. His wrath undoes the wicked."

Drake explained, "That's the oath of knights of the Old Code. Dragons generally follow it as well, as becoming a true hero of man means doing most of those things. It's what we live by."

Audney looked to the ground for a moment, thoughtful, before returning Draco's gaze with determination as she said, "Then I suppose I'll have to learn to be more honest, when this is over."

Draco chuckled heartily, "You're a good child."

The girl smiled a bit and lifted her head to the sky, "It looks like he's got her. Ready?" She lowered her gaze to drake, who nodded slightly and allowed her to climb onto his back before he and his father both took to the sky, just in time to see Hiccup pull Astrid from the treetop she'd been standing on up into the saddle.

They entered earshot of the boy just in time to hear Hiccup say, "Toothless? Down. Gently." Toothless spread his wings and released the tree, allowing it to snap back into place as he hovered in place. "See? Nothing to be afraid of." Toothless suddenly shot straight up, and Drake had a hard time keeping up.

Audney let out a loud whoop as she yelled up to them, "YEAH! SHOW HER, TOOTHLESS! SCARE THE PANTS OFF HER!"

"NOT HELPING!" Came Hiccup's nervous reply before he said something to Toothless, then Astrid... But apparently Toothless wasn't listening to a word Hiccup had to say, as he soon plummeted downward, causing Astrid to shriek at the top of her lungs as he twisted in midair and splashed them with ocean waves.

Clinging to Drake's neck, which she found much easier to hold onto than Toothless' saddle, Audney shouted, "YEAH! Go Toothless!"

With this encouragement, the Night Fury tore away from the ocean and began to roll head over tail. Audney, Drake, and Draco, highly entertained by this, caught up just in time to hear Hiccup say, "And now the spinning. Thank you for nothing, you useless reptile."

Astrid clamped her hands over her eyes and whimpered, "Okay! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Just get me off this thing!" Toothless seemed satisfied with this, and leveled off, ascending into the clouds.

"Aww, it's over already?" Audney complained, watching the pair enjoy a romantic moment in the clouds.

"If you want, we can try that later," Drake offered.

The girl shivered, "With your flying skills? I'll pass, thanks."

"Hey, I told you, it's the landing I have problems with, not the flying." Drake protested. They continued flying well after sunset, and apparently, the top-down view of Berk got to Astrid.

"Alright, I admit it. This is pretty cool. It's... amazing." She paused before adding, "He's amazing." As she reached down to pat Toothless' side. "So what now?" Hiccup groaned at the sudden change of subject, "It's a problem without an answer. Hiccup, your final exam is tomorrow. You know you're going to have to kill... kill a dragon."

"Don't remind me." Hiccup mumbled.

Audney leaned against Drake, rather bored, "Stupid Astrid. He talks to her about it and not me? I'm his sister, I've been with him since birth, yet she's somehow more important."

"He doesn't see it that way." Draco said softly, coming up beside the girl and his son, "She's an ideal mate for him. You're just his sister... You can't compare yourself to her."

"But it isn't fair! Everything I do, every breath I take, every move I make, everything is for him. Doesn't that matter at all?" She was on the verge of tears now, huddled close to Drake's neck.

"But has he really seen that?" Draco pressed, "You accuse him of lying and keeping secrets, but have you not done the same? Do you not continue to do the same? He only knows as much as you allow him to see."

Audney sucked in a breath, "His word speaks only truth." She murmured, "From now on... I want to live by the Old Code, too."

"I think you know where to begin." Draco said thoughtfully.

"I know." She confirmed, but suddenly, Toothless took off, interrupting their little moment, and Audney, Drake, and Draco quickly followed suit, completely unprepared and unaware of what horrors awaited them.

* * *

Kinda short chapter is kinda short. Eh. Not too bad. Getting close to the end of the movie now! Probably within the next three chapters or so... Not sure if that's where I'm going to end it or if it should be a "to be continued" scenario and make this a prequel to another fic. I suppose I should wait until this is truly over to decide. Anyway, hope you liked it~!


	8. Why

"Toothless! What's happening? What is it?" Hiccup asked, assuming the dragon would have no response for him, but the infuriated bark he got in response was uncalled for... At least, until Hiccup saw a Monstrous Nightmare dropping from the sky to fly beside Toothless. "Get down!" Hiccup called back to Astrid and Audney, and the three ducked their heads. The monstrous Nightmare gave a call, and a Hideous Zippleback responded, coming to fly on the other side of Toothless. Audney and Drake weren't in much better shape. Although Draco flew on one side, A Deadly Nadder was on the other, and a Gronckle was hot on Drake tail.

"What _is_ this?" Audney murmured under her breath as she clung just a little bit more tightly to Drake's neck. It was reassuring to know there were at least three dragons there that would defend them. Probably.

"What's going on?" Astrid asked.

As she was closer to Hiccup, he seemed to hear her and replied, "I don't know," Before tapping Toothless' side, "Toothless, you've got to get us out of here, bud." Toothless looked back for just a moment to hiss at Hiccup before continuing as dragons in the multitudes seemed to appear from nowhere all around them as they emerged from the clouds.

"There must be hundreds of them!" Audney murmured in awe. Then it hit her, "The nest! Is that where they're going?"

"You're asking the wrong dragon. I don't speak Dragonese." Drake muttered, "But I have a bad feeling about this."

The dragons all seemed to have fish and game in their talons, some bearing more than others... "Maybe it's just a picnic?" Audney suggested hopefully. They'd managed to position themselves almost directly above Hiccup and Astrid, making conversations easier.

"Yeah, it looks like they're all hauling in their kills," Hiccup agreed, sounding rather nervous by the prospect.

Voicing everyone else's concerns, Astrid wondered, "What does that make us?"

The dragons all banked a turn into thick fog, somehow managing to see well enough to maneuver through sea stacks as they flew. "How are you seeing? I can hardly see my hand in front of my face!" Audney complained.

"Watching Toothless' tail," Drake replied, shushing her promptly afterward so he could concentrate. Suddenly, they came to the base of a volcanic hollow, glowing with lava, and the dragons lined up to squeeze through a crack so small that Draco wound up having to wait for them outside, which was more than a little bit nerve wracking. What if they didn't come back? Eventually, the bottom of the tunnel gave out, revealing a massive and boiling hot center with tiered shelves and dragons nesting everywhere in hordes. The dragons they flew in with flew to the center of the hole and dropped their fish and game into the abyss.

"What dad wouldn't give to find this." Hiccup said in awe. Finally, Toothless peeled away from the group and came to land on a small and shadowy shelf, obviously doing his best to keep a low profile. Drake followed suit and landed beside him, crouching to keep himself well-camouflaged as well, though he didn't go into his full-blown rock formation disguise. It wouldn't cover Audney, and they might need to get away in a hurry.

The three humans and Drake took in their surroundings, "I feel like I'm inside a beehive or ant's nest." Audney announced softly.

"It's satisfying to know that all of our food has been dumped down a hole." Hiccup said dryly.

"They're not eating any of it." Astrid agreed.

"Well that's because they're giving it to their-" Audney was cut off when a mighty roar shook the cavern. "Queen." She finished meekly, almost afraid to look as a massive form burst forth from the pit and snapped a Gronckle who's contribution was apparently inadequate out of the air and into it's mighty maw, swallowing it whole.

"What is that?" Astrid asked softly as the great creature began sniffing at the air, as if sensing a disturbance. It came near the ledge where Toothless and Drake were hiding and roared again, scaring most of the other nearby dragons away, like bats taking flight at sunset.

"Alright buddy, we gotta get out of here. NOW!" Hiccup demanded, and this time, Toothless was more than happy to comply. Drake and Toothless just barely managed to get their feet off the ground when the ginormous mouth crashed into the ledge they'd been sitting on. It lunged for them again, but missed and took a Zippleback down instead. Drake and Toothless both disappeared into the exodus as thousands upon thousands of dragons fled the cave.

They managed to find a meeting point- that being Draco, who was, as promised, waiting just outside the mouth of the cavern. His anxious face was replaced by a flood of relief when his son came to hover beside him, "What was that in there?" Draco asked nervously as Hiccup and Toothless joined them.

"Less talking, more flying," Hiccup suggested hurriedly, and the other two took off, following Toothless.

When they were finally alone, headed back to Berk, Draco asked again, "So what did you see? I heard a terrible roaring and suddenly thousands of dragons were coming out."

Audney sat back on Drake as she began to decompress, "Like I was trying to say, it felt like we were inside an oversized beehive or ant's nest. Those dragons were bringing food to their queen-" To Draco, she added, "A dragon about ten times your size, the thing you heard roaring."

"You're exaggerating." Draco decided.

"Unfortunately, she's not." Drake confirmed, shuddering a bit, "But I don't understand. Dragons are nothing like insects!"

"No, no, it totally makes sense!" Astrid exclaimed as they came to land in the cove, this time without incident. She continued, seeming to understand where Audney was going with this, "It's like a giant beehive. They're the workers... and that's their queen. It controls them." Astrid leaped off of Toothless and started running for the village, shouting, "Let's find your dad!"

"No, no! Not yet. They'll... kill Toothless... And Drake and Draco, too..." Hiccup mumbled nervously as he and Audney slid off their dragons as well. "Astrid, we have to think this through carefully."

"Not her strong suit," Audney mumbled, leaning back against Drake just as he began to lie down. Almost as if it were planned that way, the girl slid down with him until she was seated with her legs out in front of her. Unfortunately, her clothing was ridiculously muddy from sliding in the moist soil, but that could be dealt with later.

"Hiccup, we just discovered the dragons' nest... the thing we've been after since Vikings first sailed here... And you want to keep it a secret? To protect your pet dragon? Are you serious?" Astrid challenged.

Astrid stood, seeming resolute in his decision as he and Audney said simultaneously, "Yes."

Of course, Audney added afterward, "Stupid question."

"Okay," Astrid said, seeming a bit unconvinced that this was really the grandest of schemes, but she asked anyway, "Then what do we do?"

Hiccup hesitated, "Just, give me until tomorrow. I'll figure something out."

Again, Audney felt a pang in her chest. "He said me," She murmured under her breath. Drake curled around her soothingly, not entirely sure what he could say to make her feel better.

Astrid punched Hiccup in the arm and said, "That's for kidnapping me." Hiccup glared at Toothless, the one who'd actually done the kidnapping, but the dragon simply snorted in response, as if he'd doe the boy a favor. Suddenly, the girl grabbed Hiccup, who flinched, bracing for another blow, but instead got a kiss on the cheek. "That's for everything else." With this, she rushed off, leaving Hiccup to rub his cheek, stunned.

"Oh gross." Audney grumbled. She met the gaze of Toothless and stuck her tongue out, "Bleah." He turned away from her and wandered up to Hiccup's side, eyeing him.

"What are you looking at?" Hiccup demanded of the dragon, who promptly stuck his tongue out as Audney had. Hiccup rolled his eyes, and meandered back to the village, seeming to have forgotten about his sister entirely.

Audney heaved a sigh and slumped back, "If I ever left him behind like that, he wouldn't talk to me for a month." She muttered under her breath, then turned her head to look at Draco, thinking for a moment before asking finally, "Draco, what _exactly _is the prophecy?"

Draco inhaled thoughtfully before reciting, "By the light of Orion's arrow in the night sky, an unhatched dragon will be lead to a safer place, where he will hatch when Gemini and Draco turn toward each other. On the night that Draco and Gemini see eye-to-eye, so too will that dragon, along with another, see eye-to-eye with a set of twins. Brought together by turns of fate, the unlikely pairs will change history for mankind and dragonkind alike."

"Hmm." Audney mumbled, looking up to the stars as she contemplated this.

She was snapped out of her thoughts, however, when Draco stated, "Now I have a question for you." She blinked and turned her head to look at the massive beast again as he went on, "Why do you wish to become a Knight of the Old Code? The Code doesn't seem to fit with Viking mentality."

She chuckled softly and returned her gaze to the sky, "It doesn't, you're right... But then, neither has mine. I've never belonged here, Draco, nor has my brother. I guess I thought that if I had something to follow, something I could believe in and support the ideas of, that it would give my life direction and meaning. Right now, the meaning of my life is slipping through my fingers... I never intended to tell lies. I hate them, really, but... I knew they'd separate us if I were completely honest all the time. But I guess Hiccup doesn't need my protection anymore... Everything else, I'm already doing. Valor, virtue, defending the helpless and upholding the weak... The only thing I've never had a chance to do is undoing the wicked, aside from my lies. So in answer to your question, I want to be a Knight of the Old Code because, first and foremost, I share the same morals and values, nut also because... I know there are other Hiccups in the world... Not all of them have a sister like me... But I want to be able to help them come into their own, too. To show them what they're capable of... But right now, it's starting to look like discovering that might get Hiccup killed. Nothing about that in the prophecy, is there?"

"It wouldn't be a prophecy if it weren't vague." Draco murmured, "But I don't think anything will happen. The pure of heart should not be so quick to experience death."

Audney lowered her head, eyes downcast, "I just hope Hiccup knows what he's doing." She said softly, and with this, she left the dragons and returned home. Tomorrow, she decided, would be another day. It would be the day that the truth came out, not just about the dragons, but about herself as well.

The following morning, the whole town had gathered at the training arena to witness Hiccup's slaying of a Monstrous Nightmare for the first time. Hiccup and Audney stood together at the entrance, waiting for their father to begin his speech. "Well, I can show my face in public again!" The man joked, eliciting laughter and applause from the crowd while Audney and Hiccup winced and shared a look.

"That's reassuring." Audney muttered under her breath. Hiccup nodded slightly in agreement, still listening to his father as the man went on.

"If someone had told me that in a few short weeks, Hiccup would go from being, well... Hiccup, to placing first in dragon training... I would've tied him to a mast and shipped him off for fear he'd gone mad. Yes! And you know it!"

"He probably has a ship set aside just for that occasion." Hiccup grumbled.

"Nah, he just has a ship set aside for the two of us, when he finally decide's he's done raising dead weight." Audney corrected, trying to lighten the mood, though it didn't really help much.

Stoick continued, "But here we are. And no one's more surprised... Or more proud than I am. Today, my boy becomes a Viking. TODAY, HE BECOMES ONE OF US!"

Cheering filled their ears as Audney and Hiccup turned to one another, "Hope he didn't put any bets down on that," Audney muttered, "You can't kill dragons. You're being put in a ring with the explicit intention of having you kill one in front of an entire expectant village. What could possibly go wrong?"

"Thank you for summing that up." Hiccup groaned.

Audney grabbed his arm and forced him to face her, "You have to make it through this," She said softly, "You have to. I have something important to tell you... Something I should've said a long time ago... Please, please be safe." With this said, she gently hugged the boy and stepped away, making room for Astrid to come in before Hiccup could ask any questions.

"Be careful with that dragon." Astrid told him, immediately drawing his attention from his twin to her.

"It's not the dragon I'm worried about." Hiccup muttered.

Concerned, Astrid asked, "What are you going to do?"

"Put an end to this." Hiccup said firmly. The girl eyed him warily, but he continued, "I have to try. Astrid, Audney... If something goes wrong... Just make sure they don't find Toothless. Drake and Draco can get away on their own, but..."

"I will." Astrid resolved, "Just promise me it won't go wrong."

"Nobody will find Toothless. You have my word." Audney murmured when Hiccup didn't respond to Astrid's question.

Finally, Gobber approached them and said, "It's time, Hiccup. Knock him dead." The boy pulled his breasthat on and stepped out into the ring. Audney moved to follow, but was snatched up by Gobber's arm. "Not you. He's a man now, Audney." The girl whimpered as the gates closed, and she pressed herself against the bars anxiously, watching as Hiccup hoisted a shield onto his arm and snatched a tiny dagger from the many weapons on the rack.

"I'm ready." He announced. The bolt on the door of the Nightmare's cage was lifted, and the doors slammed open, and out stepped a flaming Monstrous Nightmare. For a time, it seemed to relish in the freedom until it realized that it was still in an enclosure, just a larger one. He hissed and shot flames at the crowd before spotting Hiccup and approaching him. Hiccup locked his eyes with the Nightmare's, then dropped his shield and dagger, stepping away from them. The dragon appeared to be confused by this gesture, as was the rest of the crowd. All but Audney.

"No, no, no, no, you IDIOT!" She whimpered, "You think they're going to buy that?"

Hiccup didn't hear her as the dragon pressed closer, sniffing and snorting. The boy extended a hand, as he had to Toothless shortly after they met. The beast snarled, but Hiccup only said, "It's okay, it's okay." After a moment, he realized what had been bothering the dragon and removed his helmet, dropping it to the ground, "I'm not one of them."

The crowd was gasping and looking nervously to Stoick as the Nightmare paced around Hiccup, calming down some. "Oh, gods," Audney whispered, gripping the bars so tightly now that her hands were turning white.

"Stop the fight." Stoick demanded.

"No. I need you all to see this. They're not what we think they are. We don't have to kill them." Hiccup tried to assure the restless crown, but it only served to anger Stoick further.

"I SAID STOP THE FIGHT!" Stoick roared, smashing his hammer against the iron enclosure, causing the entire arena to rattle. The noise frightened the Nightmare, who snapped at Hiccup's hand. The boy yelped and jumped back. Bad move. The sudden movement only startled the dragon further, and he spewed a stream of fire at the boy. Hiccup screamed as he dove just out of the fire's reach and began scrambling around the ring, being chased by an enraged Monstrous Nightmare.

"Hiccup!" Audney and Astrid shrieked almost in tandem. Astrid wedged her axe under the gate, creating a gap just tall enough for the two to squeeze through. As they struggled with the gate, Hiccup managed to get to the weapons rack, but it was too late. The Nightmare saw what he was doing and obliterated the rack and started to close in on him as Astrid and Audney prepared to jump into the fight. "Hiccup!" Astrid called as she snatched up a hammer and threw it at the beast, hitting it in the head. It turned it's attention to Astrid and began chasing her.

Audney was quick to react, grabbing a shield and hurling it at the Nightmare, hitting the back of its neck. It turned to chase her, and she heard her father call to them "This way!" Apparently he had managed to get the arena gate open, but before she could get any closer, the Nightmare spewed out a line of fire that blocked both her and Hiccup from the gates. The Nightmare pounced both of them to the ground, one under each paw, and prepared to deal the finishing blow. It really was the end, this time.

Audney turned her eyes to Hiccup frantically, "No, I never got to tell you, I-"

Suddenly, there was a mighty roar, followed by familiar voices calling out to them and Gobber shouting, "Night Fury! Get down!" just before a hole was blasted through the chain enclosure, causing smoke to rise throughout the enclosure and nearby stands, blocking out the scene of fighting dragons from the Vikings, but the smoke veil wouldn't last long, and what would come next would either be devastating or shocking for the twins.


	9. The End?

Toothless and the Monstrous Nightmare rolled our of the smoke, snapping and snarling at one another, while Drake and Draco flew in and landed beside Hiccup and Audney protectively. "What happened? We heard you yelling..." Drake wondered worriedly, his voice just low enough for the twins to hear over the roars of the crows and dragonfight.

"We're dead. That's what happened. Now you've joined us." Audney grumbled, her concern coming off as anger in the heat of the moment.

Finally, Toothless kicked the larger dragon off of himself and stood between it and the twins. The Nightmare wasn't quite through, and snarled at Toothless, preparing to circle them, but with a glare from Draco and a roar from Toothless, he finally seemed to get the point and backed off. Much to the crowd's disgust, Hiccup grabbed Toothless defensively, "Alright, Toothless, go. Get out of here!"

"You guys too," Audney added to Drake and Draco, "It's not safe here. We'll catch up with you later, I promise, just... Go for now."

"Are you sure you can handle this?" Draco pressed, not really sure what was best at the time.

"An angry mob of Vikings? Yeah, no sweat, deal with this stuff all the time, now SCRAM!" She and Hiccup both tried to shoo the three dragons, but only two of them listened. Toothless was determined to stay behind and protect Hiccup. Drake hesitated when he saw that Toothless wasn't with them, but a SOME gesticulation from Audney was enough to get him moving again.

"Go! GO!" Hiccup encouraged, still trying to force Toothless to leave.

Audney, seeing that the other two were gone, joined her brother, "Come on, bud, nothing good's going to come of you staying," Unfortunately, trying to reason with the dragon seemed just as ineffective as trying to reason with Stoick, who was now charging into the arena with an axe.

"Stoick, no!" Astrid cried.

"Dad! No! He won't hurt you!" Hiccup tried as his father neared, pushing aside the other Vikings who wanted to kill Toothless for themselves.

"Come on, Toothless!" Audney pleaded, still trying her best, now attempting to push the dragon out of the arena.

"No, don't! You're only making it worse!" Hiccup begged Stoick, but the man was having none of it as he raised his axe and charged at Toothless.

"Toothless!" Audney whimpered. The Night Fury dodged the blow, then pounced Stoick to the ground, tumbling end over end with him, until finally they came to a stop, Toothless on top.

"Toothless! Stop!" Hiccup commanded, but it fell upon deaf ears as there was the familiar sonic whine as Toothless built up the gas in his mouth, and the whole arena fell silent with anticipation. That is, except for Hiccup and Audney who shouted almost in tandem, "NO!"

Toothless swallowed back the gas and glanced over at Audney and Hiccup, clearly confused. Wasn't this man going to attack them? A random Viking shouted "Get him!" Which got everyone else into action, taking Toothless down.

Astrid and Gobber hand to hold the twins back to prevent them from going after Toothless. "No! Please... just don't hurt him," Hiccup whimpered rather pathetically.

"He wouldn't hurt anybody," Audney provided, but none of the other Vikings were listening as they managed to get Toothless on a dragon containment mechanism.

Stoick was presented with an axe by one of the villagers, but, surprisingly, he shoved it away and barked, "Put it with the others!" Before turning a harsh glare to Audney and Hiccup.

He grabbed them each by one shoulder and dragged them along with him, then forcefully shoved them into the Great Hall. The door slammed behind them and Stoick finally let go of the two in favor of pacing before the tapestries of their ancestors. "I should have known. I should have seen the signs." Stoick mumbled.

"Dad," Hiccup tried.

"We had a deal!" Stoick boomed. He then opened his mouth to add something to that, but apparently decided against it and went back to pacing.

"I know we did... But that was before... Ugh, it's all so messed up." Hiccup mumbled, rather frustrated himself.

Audney took this opportunity to stand up to her father, "Not me!" She protested, "The only thing I promised to do was look out for Hiccup, and I did just that!"

"You call this looking out for him?!" Stoick demanded.

"Toothless is not the enemy!" Before, Audney would have backed down to avoid confrontation, especially with Stoick, but now... "Things have changed. WE have changed! And it's about time you did, too! Look, I'm sorry Hiccup lied to you, but we knew you would react this way if we told you! You're just the same as ever!"

Stoick forcefully pushed her aside, and she fell to the ground, caught between fuming and being on the verge of tears. "So everything in the ring. A trick? A lie?" Stoick demanded of Hiccup.

"I screwed up." Hiccup admitted, "I should have told you before now. Take this out on me, be mad at me, but please... Just don't hurt Toothless."

"The dragon? That's what you're worried about? Not the people you almost killed?!" Stoick roared, infuriated.

"He was just protecting me! He's not dangerous!" Hiccup retorted.

"Which he wouldn't have had to do if not for you, dad!" Audney added, rising to her feet, "He had to protect Hiccup from the Monstrous Nightmare because YOU made it freak out!"

"They've killed HUNDREDS OF US!" Stoick boomed.

"And we've killed THOUSANDS OF THEM! They defend themselves, that's all! They raid because they have to!" Hiccup explained. Seeing where this was going, Audney made all the gestures she could think of to make him shut up, but it just wasn't working. "If they don't bring enough food back, they'll be eaten themselves."

He paused, giving Audney enough time to nudge him and whisper, "Shutting up might be a good idea."

Hiccup didn't seem to hear her, "There's something else on their island, dad... It's a dragon like-"

Before he could finish, Stoick huffed indignantly, "Their island?" He asked, pointing an accusing finger at Hiccup. "So you've been to the nest."

"Did I say nest?" Hiccup fumbled before falling silent entirely. He probably shouldn't have said that.

"Nope, I'm pretty sure he said island. Could've been any island, really," Audney let her voice trail off there. She was going nowhere with this, really, just buying time for a miracle.

"How did you find it?!" Stoick challenged.

"No... I didn't. Toothless did. Only a dragon can find the island." Stoick glared for a moment before seeming to get an idea and stomping in the general direction of the door.

Realizing his mistake, Hiccup and Audney chased after him, "Oh no. No, dad. No." Hiccup pleaded, "Dad, it's not what you think. You don't know what you're up against. It's like nothing you've ever seen!" Each twin grabbed hold of one of Stoick's meaty arms and dug their heels into the ground, but it didn't seem to slow the man down at all.

"Really, this thing is... It's huge. And it controls the other dragons, do you understand what that means?" Audney provided, but this didn't seem to help either.

"Dad. Please. I promise you that you can't win this one" Still, Stoick said nothing. "No. Dad, no. For once in your life WOULD YOU PLEASE JUST LISTEN TO ME?!" Hiccup was suddenly thrown off of his father's arm, landing in a heap on the ground, and his sister joined him shortly afterward. Hiccup stared back in stunned silence.

"You've thrown your lot in with them. You're not Vikings... You're not my children." With this, Stoick left the two.

"I have to say, I kinda saw that coming," Audney mumbled, getting to her feet before dragging a truly crushed Hiccup to his. "Why would he listen to us now? He never has before, especially not when it comes to important things."

"Toothless..." Hiccup managed finally, "That massive dragon is going to eat him."

Audney smiled a bit, "That's the spirit," She encouraged, much to Hiccup's surprise. Clapping him on the shoulder, she clarified, "Be worried about Toothless, who's helpless in this situation. Not about our daddy issues."

"Audney..." Hiccup was in absolute awe of her. This was not the sgirl he'd grown up with. The old Audney would have been too busy mourning the loss of the glimmer of a potential relationship with their father to even think clearly.

"A knight is sworn to valor. His heart knows only virtue. His blade defends the helpless. His might upholds the weak. His word speaks only truth. His wrath undoes the wicked." Audney recited this perfectly, which was impressive, as she'd really only heard it once. "Speaking of truth, Hiccup-"

"Whatever it is, it can wait." Hiccup decided, storming out the doors to watch the ships leave.

Audney heaved a sigh, "It can wait... I guess it can..." She murmured to herself before going to join her brother to watch the boats leave.

And then Astrid decided to show up. "It's a mess." The girl commented, "You must feel horrible. You've lost everything. Your father, your tribe, your best friend."

Audney winced. That one stung a bit, especially to hear it from an outsider. She was still there, or was she invisible? "Thank you for summing that up," Hiccup grumbled, "Why couldn't I have killed that dragon when I found him in the woods? It would have been better for everyone."

"Yep. The rest of us would have done it." Astrid agreed.

"Speak for yourself," Audney muttered under her breath, but was, yet again, ignored. Deciding that she didn't really want to hang around for the rest of this conversation, she turned and ran for the cove, where she found Drake and Draco waiting for her.

"What happened? Is everything alright? Where are Hiccup and Toothless?" Drake asked, completely bombarding her with questions. Rather than answer him, the girl ran to him and threw her arms around his neck, her whole body shaking, "Audney?" Drake tensed, even more concerned now, "Where is Hiccup?"

"Gone," Audney grumbled, "Gone, gone gone. _My_ Hiccup is dead and buried. He's growing up. He doesn't need me anymore."

Draco cleared his throat, "I hate to ruin the moment, but... I believe there are slightly larger problems on our plates."

Finally pulling away from Drake, Audney nodded, "My father took Toothless and a fleet of ships to the dragon's nest. They're going to get themselves killed and bring Toothless down with them."

"And Hiccup?" Draco pressed.

"Is probably going to do something incredibly stupid to try to get Toothless back..." She hesitated, then looked to Draco pleadingly, "Can I count on you to help us? I still haven't been able to tell him."

A small smile fell upon Draco's features, "Of course, Audney."

Elated that he was willing to help, the girl clambered onto Drake's back and said, "He can't have gone far, he was by the port earlier, I imagine he's around there somewhere." With this, the dragons took off, and eventually located their target inside of the training arena, where the other Viking teens had gathered and were on the backs of dragons, listening intently as Hiccup informed them of his plan.

Upon seeing Audney, Drake, and Draco, his face brightened even further, "Audney! I wasn't sure you would come,"

Audney smiled a bit, glad to see that she was still on his mind at least some of the time, and reminded, "Don't forget what I said earlier. I can't leave a friend in need. Besides, I still have something important I have to tell you. Can't let you die on me yet."

Seeing that the other dragons were all occupied, Draco lowered himself to the ground to allow Hiccup to climb onto his back. "So the plan is-"

"No time for repeating plans. Less talking, more flying. We'll figure it out." Audney said simply, "We have to get there before it's too late."

One long flight later, the group found that they had arrived just in the nick of time. Apparently the Red Death had set the ships aflame, and Vikings were scattering everywhere. Astrid and the Deadly Nadder she was riding struck the back of the great beast's head, distracting it. "Ruff, Tuff, watch your backs! Move, Fishlegs!" Hiccup shouted out instructions, somehow managing to keep everyone out of harm's way.

"Look at us, we're on a dragon! We're on dragons, all of us!" Tuffnut called down to the men standing on the beach below.

Audney rolled her eyes a bit, though she couldn't help but yell something down herself. "Still think you can handle that thing alone, Stoick? Maybe next time you'll _listen_ to us!"

"Up, let's move it!" Hiccup commanded, and the dragons climbed up higher, out of the Read Death's grasp. "Fishlegs, break it down."

"Okay. Heavily armored skull and tail made for bashing and crushing. Steer clear of both. Small eyes, large nostrils. Relies on hearing and smell." Fishlegs announced, looking the beast over.

"Okay. Lout, Legs, hang in its blind spot. Make some noise, keep it confused. Ruff, Tuff, find out if it has a shot limit. Make it mad." Hiccup ordered.

"That's my specialty," Ruffnut bragged.

"Since when? Everyone knows I'm more irritating. See?" Tuffnut made a few obnoxious sounds to emphasize his points.

A slightly peeved Hiccup said, "Just do what I told you. I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Don't worry, we got it covered!" Tuffnut assured him.

"Yeah!" Fishlegs agreed.

Hiccup and Draco peeled away from the rest of the group while the others continued to do as they were told. Audney, who had been given no instruction, was off to the side with Drake. "So, what do we do?" He asked.

Audney shrugged, "I dunno, breathe fire at it?"

"I can't." Drake replied bluntly.

Audney's eyes narrowed a bit, "You have got to be the most useless dragon I've ever seen."

"No, I mean, I don't know how," Drake clarified, "All I know is, it comes out my nose."

"So... Snort at it?" Audney suggested. Drake attempted this, but nothing happened. Thinking back, Audney recalled, "Well when the other dragons do it, they build up a gas, maybe you have to do that. Take a deep breath... I mean really deep, like deeper than you ever have before." Drake did as he was told, then, amazingly, shot a line of fire straight out of his nose.

Before Audney could praise him, Astrid called out, "He's up!"

The girl turned to see Hiccup and Toothless soaring into the sky. "Let's stick with him," She told Drake, who was happy to carry her up, though when Hiccup suddenly took a dive to go after Astrid, they didn't follow. "If he misses, we won't be to blame. We were too far away," Was her reasoning.

"You really don't like that girl, do you?" Drake mused.

"Not in the slightest." Audney confirmed. Finally, Hiccup and Toothless, minus Astrid, made it back up to them.

"That thing has wings!" Hiccup observed, "Let's see if he can use them!" Toothless and Drake almost simultaneously shot at the great beast before continuing their ascent. "Do you think that did it?" He asked, surprised when the beast fell to the ground... Only to get back up with wings extended. Enraged, the massive monster rose into the air, coming after them. "Well, he can fly."

"Lovely," Audney grumbled as Drake followed Toothless down into a maze of sea stacks. While they had to bob and weave, the Read Death simply cut right through the rock as if it wasn't even there.

"Okay, Toothless, time to disappear. Audney, Drake, keep it distracted for us, and keep it in the air!" Drake and Audney did as they were told, peeling away from Toothless and Hiccup blast fire at it.

"Keep it distracted, he says, while he does what exact-" She was cut off by a familiar sound, that was generally accompanied by screams of "Night Fury, get down!" But not this time. A plasma blast whizzed past them and struck the Red Death's wind, punching a hole through it.

"Reason enough for you?" Drake challenged playfully. as the dragon turned in the general direction the shot had come from and roared, infuriated, pumping it's wings in an attempt to find Hiccup and Toothless.

Audney cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted, "Hey, Lunkhead! Forgetting something?!" As if on cue, Drake rushed forward, but got caught up in the turbulence of the behemoth's wings. Fluttering, he somehow managed to regain his balance, accidentally clipping the dragon's wing with his tail.

The girl, who was holding on for dear life, encouraged, "Nice touch!" The massive dragon turned to them and fired, Drake just barely managing to keep out of its path. There was another boom from the sky and a flash of plasma tore through the opposite wing. This went on for several minutes before finally the dragon decided it had had enough and unleashed a torrent of fire, spinning all around, leaving no general direction untouched. Seeing the incoming blast, Audney spun around on Drake's back and drew her legs up into the fetal position just as the flames surrounded her- but did not touch her. She'd used Drake's head and neck as a shield from the flame. "You alright Drake?" She asked when the flames subsided.

"I should be asking you that," Drake confirmed. Audney heaved a sigh of relief and spun around again to hold onto the dragon's neck properly... Then, she saw a bit of flaming leather fall from the sky, "Toothless! HICCUP!"

"Yeah, we're good! Time to end this though, make sure everyone's alright on the ground!" Hiccup ordered.

Audney narrowed her eyes as Drake began descending, then looked to the ground. "Does anybody look badly wounded to you?" She asked.

"No, not really." Drake admitted.

"Then our work here is done, get back to Hiccup!" She demanded.

"But-" Drake stammered, glancing over his shoulder at her. Her face was set and determined, there was no way he was going to be able to talk her out of this one. "Hold on tight." He relented, climbing higher into the sky, but before they could get very far, the dragon began to explode from the inside.

Audney winced, "That's gotta hurt..." She saw a flash of movement, going down, and fast, "Toothless! They're over there!" She pointed vaguely at where she'd seen the Night Fury and the two began plummeting down. Audney blinked, finally figuring out what they were trying to do. Drake, who was a far less experienced flier than Toothless, was pretty far behind, near the massive beast's tail, when Audney shouted, "No, Drake, pull up!"

"WHAT?!"

"I SAID-" Before she could finish her sentence, Audney's eyes widened with horror as the massive beast hit the ground and exploded. Wrenching her eyes closed, she shrieked, "DUCK!" With all of her might, she got to her feet and threw herself onto Drake's head, pushing it down, then fell back forcefully, skidding along the dragon's rough scales before finally falling off near the beginning of his tail.

Feeling her leave his back, Drake looked for the girl frantically as a ball of fire began rising toward them. Just in time, he grabbed the girl in his talons and carried her to safety, setting her down gently on the ground before landing himself, "Audney, what happened?" He came around to the other side of her and then he saw it... One of the crimson red spines had flown off the Red Death and pierced directly through Audney, from nearly the center of her chest, all the way through to her back. "AUDNEY!" He whimpered, nudging her as if this would somehow stop the blood that was quickly flowing out of the wounds.

Glancing over his shoulder, Drake was able to see Toothless... but not Hiccup. "Hiccup..." He was about to leave Audney's side to see if the boy was okay when he heard shouts from Stoick of "HE'S ALIVE!" Drake turned back to Audney and lifted her gently in his talons and carrying her off, attracting the attention of Draco, who followed him away from the scene.

It wasn't until they had made it home that Stoick realized something was missing. "Where is Audney?" He asked Gobber.

"I haven't seen her. I thought you were keeping track of everyone." Gobber replied honestly. A ship was sent out to search for her, but the search was fruitless. Audney seemed to have simply disappeared off the face of the earth.

When Hiccup awoke to nuzzles from Toothless, he was more than happy to see the dragon. "Okay, okay! I'm happy to see you too, bud. Now just-" He yelped and sat upright as the dragon accidentally stepped on his crotch, and he was met with an even greater shock. "I'm in my house." He looked at Toothless, then rephrased, "You're in my house." A very excited Toothless began wreaking all kinds of havoc as he tore around the room. "Uh... Does my dad know you're here?!" Toothless suddenly leaped into the rafters, displaying his excitement. "Okay, okay- no Toothless! Aw, come on..." Hiccup shifted to get out of bed, but noticed that something was missing. Namely, the feeling in his left leg. He pulled the covers back to see a prosthetic in place of where it should have been. Naturally, a mixture of negative emotions flooded him, followed by the realization that what had happened yesterday had not been a dream. "...Toothless, where's Audney?"

The previous happy energy seemed to disappear all at once as the Night Fury came down beside Hiccup. That was not the most reassuring reaction. "Where is she?" Deciding he had to find out, he got to his feet, stumbling a bit. Toothless braced him and helped him up with his head, "Thanks, bud." He said softly before hobbling to the door, using Toothless as a crutch. He pried it open to see a Monstrous nightmate rushing past, and quickly slammed the door shut. "Toothless? Stay here, bud," He commanded before slowly opening it again and peering outside to see that dragons and humans were now living in harmony, working together peacefully. "I knew it. I'm dead."

His father, who had been waiting for him on the steps, chuckled and said, "No, but you gave it your best shot." He put an arm around Hiccup and gestured to the village, "So? What do you think?"

Of course Hiccup was amazed by all of this progress, but... "Where's Audney?" His father's proud face fell suddenly as the man averted his gaze. The same reaction Toothless had had. "Dad. Where is Audney?" He asked again, though the answer was becoming clearer.

"We don't know, son. She must have gotten caught up in that fire- we looked everywhere for her, but there's nothing, not even a body." Stoick replied grimly, "I'm sorry, son,"

Hiccup shook his head, "No." Stoick seemed surprised. "No. Audney isn't dead. She can't be dead!"

"I know it's hard to accept, son, but she's gone now, and she wouldn't want you to think so much about her," The man tried, but Hiccup was convinced.

The teen pulled away from his father, nearly falling from the effort, but Toothless caught him, "No. There's no way. Audney can't be dead, I can... I can feel it. She's out there somewhere. I know she is..." A bit more softly, he added, "She has to be."

The End...?

* * *

Dah-dah-duhhnnn. I dunno. I might continue this with a sequel... I've become rather attached to Audney. Tell me what ya think!


End file.
